Pacific Union Recorder—September 2020

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Pastor Kevin Wilson Uses Social Media For Unique Outreach PAGE 20

S E P T E M B E R 2 02 0

New NAD President Alex Bryant Takes a Bible Quiz PAGE 8

Change Agents PAGE 14

S E P T E M B E R 2020

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Hearts and P ACI F I C UNION

Online Art Show Hey kids! Help us say thank you!

So many people are working hard to help keep us safe and connected during the coronavirus pandemic! Show your appreciation by drawing a picture of someone who has been a helper to you—and then submit it to the Hearts and Hands Online Art Show!

Who do you want to say thank you to with your drawing? A teacher? A police officer? Your doctor?

Your Pathfinder leader? Your mom or dad?

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PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

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e are inviting kids aged 13 or younger who live in the Pacific Union and are part of our Adventist community of churches and schools to celebrate the blessings we all receive from the professionals and volunteers who are helping during this extraordinary time.

“We know that our family of believers is being blessed in so many ways, by so many people,” said Pastor Ricardo Graham. “This is a way for some of the youngest among us to use their creative gifts to say thank you.”

Entries to the Hearts and Hands Online Art Show can be submitted through October 15, 2020.

We encourage readers to invite their children and grandchildren to honor those working hard to make a difference, from first responders to healthcare workers, transit workers, teachers, grocery store employees, volunteers, and pastors— along with anyone else they wish to celebrate.

The art we receive will be published and shared in All God’s People, Pacific Sunrise, the Pacific Union Recorder, and on social media throughout the fall.

To learn more, view early artwork submissions, or upload original art from your child or grandchild, visit: https://bit.ly/3iUJa2C, or scan the QR code on this page.

Questions about the Hearts and Hands Online Art Show?

Please email recorder@adventistfaith.com.

Recorder What’s inside PACIFIC UNION

4 The Promise of a Home

Publisher Ray Tetz Editor Alberto Valenzuela

8 A Bible Quiz for G. Alexander Bryant 14 Change Agents 20 TikTok, I was Making Some Chai

Assistant Editor Faith Hoyt

24 Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Assistant Editor Connie Jeffery

28 Arizona Conference

Design/Layout Stephanie Leal • Alberto Valenzuela Printing Pacific Press Publishing Association www.pacificpress.com

27 Adventist Health 30 Central California Conference 34 Hawaii Conference 36 Holbrook Indian School 38 La Sierra University

The Recorder is a monthly publication reaching approximately 76,000 Seventh-day Adventist homes in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah.

40 Loma Linda University Health

Our mission is to inform, educate, and inspire our readers to action in all areas of ministry.

44 Northern California Conference

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS Adventist Health 916-406-0784 Japhet De Oliveira • Deolivj@Ah.org Arizona 480-991-6777 Phil Draper • phildraper@azconference.org Central California 559-347-3000 Cindy Chamberlin • cchamberlin@cccsda.org Hawaii 808-595-7591 Miki Akeo-Nelson • mnelson@hawaiisda.com

42 Nevada-Utah Conference 48 Pacific Union College 50 Southeastern California Conference 54 Southern California Conference 58 Newsdesk

Download the Recorder to your mobile device! For iPad/iPhone: open your QR reader and scan the code. For Android: activate the QR scan extension in your Internet browser, then select “Scan QR Code.”

64 Adventist Education 66 Community & Marketplace 69 Sunset Calendar

Holbrook Indian School 505-399-2885 Chevon Petgrave • cpetgrave@hissda.org La Sierra University 951-785-2000 Darla Tucker • dmartint@lasierra.edu Loma Linda 909-651-5925 Ansel Oliver • anoliver@llu.edu Nevada-Utah 775-322-6929 Michelle Ward • mward@nevadautah.org Northern California 916-886-5600 Laurie Trujillo • Laurie.Trujillo@nccsda.com Pacific Union College 707-965-7100 Ashley Eisele • aeisele@puc.edu Southeastern California 951-509-2200 Enno Müller • communications@seccsda.org Southern California 818-546-8400 Lauren Lacson • Llacson@sccsda.org Postal Regs: The Pacific Union Recorder (ISSN 07446381), Volume 120, Number 9, is the official journal of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and is published monthly. Editorial office is at 2686 Townsgate Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91361: 805-497-9457. Periodical postage paid at Thousand Oaks, CA, and additional mailing offices.

Subscription rate: No charge to Pacific Union Adventist church members; $16 per year in U.S.; $20 foreign (U.S. funds); single copy, $2. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Circulation Department, Pacific Union Recorder, Box 5005, Westlake Village, CA 91359. Info@adventistfaith.com.

Pastor Kevin Wilson, associate pastor for youth at the Oceanside church in San Diego County, is demonstrating how young Adventists are sharing their faith and impacting the world around them. His inspiring story starts on page 20.

Cover Photo: ©Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register via ZUMA Press S E P T E M B E R 2020

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The Promise

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of a Home

BY BRADFORD C. NEWTON

“Behold, a sower went out to sow.… [Some seed] fell on good ground and yielded a crop” (Matthew 13: 3, 8).

T

his was the perfect Home, and

There was no mistake.

they knew it at first sight. Every

They had saved more than enough

Child could have a room. The

money for the down payment. The loan

kitchen was a gourmet cook’s

preapproval had sailed through without a

dream. The floorplan offered endless

hitch. Their dream Home was within sight.

entertaining options. There was a den for

They had worked so long and gone without

him and sunroom for her. This smart Home

the essentials that others took for granted.

had Wi-Fi-connected tech throughout. The

With hope they signed the offer agreement

large lot meant plenty of room for green

and waited. Soon after, the realtor called with

grass, flower beds, and trees with ample

good news—offer accepted! The promise of a

shade over the gazebo—inviting them

Home was becoming a reality.

to hope for year-round outdoor living in

The weeks went by as the customary

abundant fresh air and sunshine. The

details that all homebuyers endure were

previous owners had spared no expense

attended to. However, for them there was

to upgrade everything inside and out. The

more anguish in the waiting. The memories

asking price was at market value. Was it too

of other Home offers haunted them. The

good to be true? They reread the listing.

paperwork and financing had always been

S E P T E M B E R 2020

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Each time their hopes had been raised, only to be shattered. But for this Family, the dream of having that Home never died.

6

correct, offers had been accepted, but then there

down the window. With a somber face, their

were last-minute rejections. Each time their

representative stood there. “I have some bad

hopes had been raised, only to be shattered. But

news.” The words were delivered with a flat tone.

for this Family, the dream of having that Home

“The deal fell through.” What did that mean?

never died. In times of bitter discouragement,

They had the money, jobs, and credit, and the

Dad and Mom would talk with their Parents,

paperwork had been completed to the exact

who reminded them of other homebuyers who

letter of the law. “Sorry, but these things just

had come before them—of their own dream of

happen.” But why? To whom do these things just

a promised Home. But that was then. What joy

happen? Again, being denied, we must hear the

to anticipate that they would soon occupy their

reason why! “Well, don’t blame me.” The words

Home of Dreams-Come-True!

came haltingly. “I’m just one person and what

At family dinner, Dad and Mom talked about

could I have done? It’s just the system.” And with

the future with the Children. What opportunities

that, they were left alone while the realtor’s car

awaited them! They imagined birthday parties,

drove quickly away.

covered-dish socials, and church Bible study

The burning anger and grief of yet another

groups under the backyard gazebo. They saw

denial could not be quenched by their hot tears.

themselves returning from a long day of work

Yet by the time they came back to where they

and school to this neighborhood where kindness,

had started that morning, the Family returned

safety, peace, and justice existed for them, just

indoors with dignity and renewed determination.

like it did for all their neighbors. It would at last

At dinner they joined hands in prayer. Son heard

feel that their lives mattered.

Dad’s reciting of the Lord’s Prayer, noting the

With excitement, the Family drove to view the

intensity added to “Thy will be done on earth as it

Home that would soon be theirs. Dappled light

is in heaven.”

and shadow filtered through the trees lining

Later, the Family assembled before their

the street. This would be their view every day

television to witness a funeral service. Sad

as Owners of the American Dream. Soaking

people dressed in black spoke about the great

in the beauty of the Home of Promise, they

man. Mom’s eyes welled with tears as witnesses

remembered that a way had been prepared

recalled the life of the man pictured next to

before them.

the casket. “Who was he?” Daughter asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dad saw their

Dad’s voice broke with emotion recounting

realtor walk deliberately up to the driver’s side.

how the great man had bravely walked across

His chest tightened and hands gripped the

a bridge, that he had crumpled to the ground

steering wheel unconsciously. He dutifully rolled

as lesser men beat him mercilessly. Through

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her tears, Mom recalled the great man’s oratory

has seen, how can he love God whom he has not

on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he

seen?” (1 John 4:20).

was young. Their eyes brightened with pride

“I am coming quickly, and My reward is with

remembering how the great man, by then grown

Me, to give to every one according to his work”

older, had led a sit-in on the carpeted floor of the

(Revelation 22:12).

United States Congress. Now the military honor

Dad pictured the great man’s funeral earlier that

guard carried the great man’s flag-draped casket

day and called to mind his final written words:

down the aisle and into a bright day.

“Though I may not be here with you, I urge you

Another week of dashed hopes and crushing

to answer the highest calling of your heart and

grief ended. As the sun set that Friday, Dad

stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I

reverently lifted his Bible from the nightstand.

have done all I can to demonstrate that the way

Its black leather was worn and cracked from

of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the

long and anguished nights in prayer. His fingers

more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let

gently leafed through the familiar thin pages to

freedom ring.

words underlined in red pen many years ago. For

“When historians pick up their pens to write

the briefest moment he remembered his Church

the story of the 21st century, let them say that

and sighed. With weary eyes he read familiar

it was your generation who laid down the heavy

Scriptures whose meaning remained inexplicably

burdens of hate at last and that peace finally

elusive for so many.

triumphed over violence, aggression and war.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

So, I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and

righteousness.… Blessed are the peacemakers”

sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power

(Matthew 5:6, 9).1

of everlasting love be your guide.”2

“Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees

Dad gently returned the Bible to the

his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from

nightstand, kissed his sleeping Wife, and

him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1

promptly extinguished the light. With mind

John 3:17).

racing, he stared intently into the darkness

“All the nations will be gathered before Him

enveloping them and cried out to God. At last

and He will separate them one from another.…

sleep overtook him. All was silent now except for

Then He will also say to those on the left hand,

the persistent ticking of a clock in the next room.

‘Depart from Me…for I was hungry and you gave

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the

Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no

Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7).

drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.…Inasmuch as

All Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.

John Lewis, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” New York Times (July 17, 2020).

1 2

you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me’” (Matthew 25:32, 41-43, 45).

Bradford Newton is the secretary and the ministerial

“He who does not love his brother whom he

director of the Pacific Union Conference.

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A Bible Quiz for

INTERVIEWED BY RICARDO GRAHAM

G

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raham: We are glad you are willing to

freely to all without regard to race, gender, age, or

participate in this Bible Quiz for our

background. It will roll on with or without us. We

Recorder readers. Now, it’s actually an

don’t own justice, just as we don’t own the river.

interview disguised as a Bible Quiz,

The owner of the river and the owner of justice is

but the format allows us to anchor the interview

God, so how should we, His children, handle that

squarely in the Scriptures, and it affirms the

which belongs to Him? Our God is a God of justice,

foundational alignment between our work here

and He calls for His children to be like Him. This

in the Pacific Union and the work that you are

text gives us our marching orders in terms of the

leading in the North American Division.

church’s voice and actions on the side of justice.

Bryant: I’m ready!

We can’t help but be involved.

Graham: The first question is about justice. The

Graham: The Psalmist wrote, “Praise the Lord,

prophet Amos wrote, “But let justice roll on like a

my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who

river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

(Amos 5:24). What do those words mean to

who redeems your life from the pit and crowns

Seventh-day Adventists in 2020?

you with love and compassion” (Psalm 103:2-4).

Bryant: Amos calls for justice to go forth to

What do these words mean for us in the age of

everyone, just as the blessings of a river flow

the coronavirus pandemic?

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G. Alexander Bryant Newly Elected President of the North American Division

Bryant: We can take great hope and peace from this Psalm. It reminds us that God is in control and He has the power over any disease. My heavenly Father crowns me with His love and compassion—even as the pandemic is swirling all around me. God has the ability and the desire to give us peace and contentment.

Graham: Question three is about service. Jesus said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Why are these words from Jesus about service so important for Adventists?

Bryant: I believe this passage is important for Adventists because of two things. First, we place a high premium on positions in our local church, conference, union, division, and the GC. However, Jesus’ teachings continually and consistently call us not to positions but to service. Second, we see ourselves at the table. Because of our doctrines and possession of the truth, we sometimes view ourselves as the favored children in the house. Yet, as He did with the disciples, time and again Jesus must call us back to service.

Graham: The prophet wrote, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm” (Jeremiah 32:17). How should we relate to the world that God has made?

S E P T E M B E R 2020

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“We must live in close and consistent relationship with God. We must find ways

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Bryant: Seventh-day Adventist need to

opportunity to shape our thinking, to impress

understand that we are stewards of this

our minds in a different way than does the

earth—not owners or masters, just stewards.

world and the environment around us. When

This will help us keep in mind that the owner,

our minds are more aligned with His, then we

our heavenly Father, is sovereign. He does

are able to see the world and its problems

not need our permission, nor does He always

more as God sees them. In this manner, God

explain to our satisfaction what he is doing and

lifts us above this earth and the things in it. We

why He is doing what He is doing. I know for

see through His eyes and not our own—and

some of us that is very difficult to accept, but if

things seem a lot more in control from that

we remember our role and His role it becomes

vantage point.

a bit more palatable. We must trust that

Graham: Question six is about the equality

the God who made everything and controls

of all believers. Paul states, “So in Christ Jesus

everything loves us with an everlasting love,

you are all children of God through faith, for

and no good thing will He withhold from us.

all of you who were baptized into Christ have

Graham: Paul writes, “Do not conform to

clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither

the pattern of this world, but be transformed

Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is

by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be

there male and female, for you are all one in

able to test and approve what God’s will is—his

Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). How does

good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

this text translate into faithfulness in our life

How are we to relate to the myriad pressures

together as Adventists?

of modern life?

Bryant: This passage challenges us to see

Bryant: We must live in close and consistent

each other as God sees us—to take off the

relationship with God. We must find ways to

filters that we inherited as children or acquired

stay in His presence. We must build time into

through time. Christ becomes the common

our day to stay in communion with God—for

denominator for all people and all people

without that close communion, the pressures

groups. He tears down the artificial barriers

of life will sweep us into a place far away

between brothers and sisters in the Lord.

from God. If we don’t spend time with God

The disciples had some serious issues with

on a personal basis, then He doesn’t have an

the Gentiles and Samaritans. They did not

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

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to stay in His presence.”

see them as children of God. Yet, Jesus called

people in this moment?

those disciples, even though they had these

Bryant: My message to young people is

biases and prejudices. Jesus had an intentional

to please continue to hold on. If you get a

and well executed plan to address the issue.

bit impatient with God’s church, don’t get

He showed them in the way He dealt with the

impatient with God. It is His church and He

woman at the well, in the feeding of the 4000,

will eventually mold it and shape it to be what

in healing the ten lepers. Jesus may have found

He wants it to be. He needs and we need

them with their prejudices, but He loved them

the young adults to help in this process. God

too much to leave them there. Even with Jesus

has singled you out! He has called out your

as the teacher, change didn’t come overnight.

generation in Joel 2:28. You can’t reform the

The Holy Spirit continues to tear down walls

church from without; you can only make

and barriers of separation until we can be the

meaningful change from within. So please

family that God intended.

don’t leave because things are not right—stay

Graham: The words of the prophet Joel

because things are not right!! Then make up

are repeated in the book of Acts: “I will pour

your mind to change things—one church at a

out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and

time, one pew at a time, one elder at a time,

daughters will prophesy, your old men will

one member at a time. This text says God

dream dreams, your young men will see

will grant you His Spirit in the last days to be

visions. Even on my servants, both men and

the church God wants to usher in His soon

women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days”

return. The movement that is rocking this

(Joel 2:28-29). What is your message to young

world now was spurred on by young people.

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God knows the power the youth can have for

and teaching them to obey everything I have

good! God needs you! We need you!

commanded you. And surely I am with you

Graham: The words of the Ten Commandments

always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew

are familiar to all of us, “Remember the Sabbath

28:18-20). In this cynical age, with trouble on every

day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). What is the

side, do we have a relevant role? How should

importance of the Sabbath to our society, our

Seventh-day Adventists respond to the Great

world—and to the Seventh-day Adventist church?

Commission?

Bryant: The Sabbath reminds us that God is

Bryant: Yes, the church has an even greater

our Creator; therefore, we owe everything to Him,

role today. We must connect society’s needs

everything is subject to Him, nothing is too big

and the Great Commission of Jesus—we have a

for Him, no problem is too complex for Him to

message of hope and certainty. The certainty is

solve, and there is no relationship so contorted

peace that only God can give in uncertain times.

that He can’t untangle it. The Sabbath is doing its

In order to receive this peace, people must

best work in my life, not by the things I refrain

accept the Peace Giver. We must learn to couch

from doing but by causing me to pause and be

our message in terms where people are today.

reminded of who God is and who I am in God!

We live in an age where people don’t trust the

When I understand that God is the Creator and

government, they don’t trust the police, they don’t

Designer of all things and He is my Father, it gives

trust court system—why not ask them to trust

me a different perspective on the challenges of

God. He is the only unchangeable touchstone that

life. As a human being, I tend to get caught up

we have. When all the social systems are failing

in the business of living and forget about the

us, what an opportunity to introduce Jesus as

One who gave me life. This can be true even in

reliable, dependable, and trustworthy. We must

doing the work of God. However, the precious

be in it for people, however, and not for numbers.

Sabbath brings me back again to Him. When I am

We must meet the human cry with the gospel and

really keeping the Sabbath, I am grounded by the

not be obsessed with just growing the church.

renewed knowledge of who God is and who I am

Graham: Question 10 is about the future.

in God.

“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for

Graham: Speaking to His disciples, Jesus said,

the first heaven and the first earth had passed

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been

away” (Revelation 21:1). How should we approach

given to me. Therefore go and make disciples

the future?

of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

Bryant: We should approach the future with

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

great certainty! Everything we do must be done

“Yes, the church has an even greater role today. We must connect society’s needs and the Great Commission of Jesus— we have a message of hope and certainty.”

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PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

On July 9, 2020, G. Alexander Bryant was elected the president of the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventhday Adventist Church. NAD Communication director Daniel Weber sat down with Bryant and discussed his new role and the events in his life that impacted his ministry. They also discussed the mission and future of the NAD. View more at https://vimeo.com/436307082.

in the light of a future kingdom. It will make us

you to be His voice, His hands, and His feet in

value things less and people more. The more

these uncertain times. When we hear of the work

real heaven is to me, the more easily I can value

that you are doing in your communities and

people more than things. The only thing God

beyond, it is inspiring and encouraging! It elevates

created in the first earth and the first heaven that

our spirits! It ennobles our minds. Thank you, my

will survive to the new heaven and the new earth

brothers and sisters in the great Pacific Union for

will be people—those individuals for whom Christ

adapting your methods, staying at your posts, and

died. The future is certain. The future is real.

standing on the wall during these uncertain and

Embrace it, live for it, and take as many people

unprecedented times. We pray for you always!

with you as you can!

May God bless you!

Graham: And now, a bonus question. The

All Scripture quotations are from the New

apostle Paul wrote, “How can we thank God

International Version.

enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?” (1 Thessalonians 3:9). What message do you have for the members of the Pacific Union Conference?

Bryant: We thank God for your faithfulness in a time of profound uncertainty. God has equipped

G. Alexander Bryant is the president of the North American Division.

Ricardo Graham is the president of the Pacific Union Conference.

S E P T E M B E R 2020

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Change A

white guest speaker from

interruption of the usual order of things would be

denominational headquarters was

heard with respect.

not an unusual occurrence for the

He faced the congregation but spoke directly

Black congregation at Ephesus

to the representative of the GC hierarchy: “Think

church in Washington, D.C. An unusual tension,

it not strange? Yes, I think it very strange that

however, hung over the atmosphere on Sabbath,

there is an Adventist college nearby to which I

October 16, 1943. Recent events had generated

cannot send my children. Yes, I think it is strange!

serious discontent, and W.G. Turner, the General

A denominational cafeteria in which I cannot be

Conference vice president for North America, had

served, and now this incident—I think it mighty

come to defuse it. He preached on 1 Peter 4:12:

strange!”

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery

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trial which is to try you, as though some strange

And now this incident…

thing happened unto you” (KJV).

The incident had taken place on September 22

As Turner, his discourse completed, turned to

when 65-year-old Lucille Byard, accompanied by

take his seat, James Montgomery immediately

her husband, James, arrived in Takoma Park after

rose to his feet. His stature in the church as

a wearying overnight train ride from New York

Sabbath School teacher and elder as well as music

City, anticipating treatment at the Washington

leader, and in the community as a civic-minded

Sanitarium. Mrs. Byard had become seriously ill

teacher and anti-poverty crusader, meant that his

several weeks before, and all the arrangements

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

Agents

BY DOUGLAS MORGAN

for her admission as a patient had been finalized

Mr. Baker. Meeting the Byards in person when

days in advance.

they arrived on September 22 sent him directly

The Byards had turned to Jeter E. Cox, pastor

into crisis mode. He immediately informed the

of the Bethel church in Brooklyn, for help in

sanitarium’s medical director, Dr. Robert A. Hare,

arranging admission to the sanitarium. Even

that their new patient was a “colored person.”

though the Washington Sanitarium generally did

Dr. Hare had a dilemma on his hands. By

not welcome a Black clientele, it had occasionally

general policy, Washington Sanitarium did not

admitted Black patients who were devout Seventh-

accept Black patients, but now they had in fact

day Adventists. An exchange of letters that Cox

admitted one, with all the particulars, including

initiated with sanitarium office personnel led to

payment, duly arranged in advance and in

agreement that Mrs. Byard would be admitted

writing. Two extant letters—one by Dr. Hare and

for care on a “part-pay, part-charity” basis,

the other by James Byard—shed light on what

with Bethel church agreeing to pay the amount

happened next but, due to their widely contrasting

billed. P.J. Baker, the sanitarium’s assistant

perspectives, also leave some question marks.

business manager, sent Cox confirmation of the

Dr. Hare’s account was sent to the General

arrangement on September 17.

Conference officers on November 15, after

Apparently not even a hint of the possibility

the incident had flared into a full-blown

that Jeter E. Cox was a Black minister and Bethel

denominational crisis, for the purpose of

was a Black Adventist church had registered with

defending his institution and the actions he S E P T E M B E R 2020

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Alan A. Anderson Ephesus churchchurch elder, Corresponding Secr. Secr.

SocialSocial Ephesus elder, Corresponding commercial artist commercial artist Vice-Chair Joseph T. Dodson, Chair Vice-Chair then lay church then lay church Secr.

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Addison V. Pinkney Grace D. Kimbrough J. Mark Cox James M. James Montgomery B.B.B. Cox James M.M. Montgomery Montgomery Helen Ross Sugland J.James Mark Cox LulaLula B. Cox Willie Anna Dodson Eva Ohio B. Lula Lula Cox Cox Eva EvaDykes B.B. Dykes Dykespresident James M.M.Montgomery Helen Ross Sugland medical Physician; medical James James M. M. Montgomery Montgomery Helen Helen Ross Ross Sugland Sugland Baltimore Philadelphia physician; Physician; medical Branch educator; community Montgomery Grace D.Physician; Kimbrough Willie Anna Dodson Physician; medical Willie Willie Anna Anna Dodson Dodson Addison V. Pinkney Baltimore educator, Philadelphia physician; Grace D. Kimbrough Addison V.educator, Pinkney ; Grace D. Kimbrough educator; anti-poverty Educator, Sabbath School J. Mark Cox journalist, English professor; educator; anti-poverty educator; community educator; anti-poverty educator; community NAACP community activist; director, Riverside Founder, Zanesville and NAACP activist English educator; anti-poverty Physician; medical Educator, Sabbath School Public school guidance J. Mark Cox professor; Educator, Educator, Sabbath Sabbath School SchoolPublic English English professor; professor; J. Mark Cox educator; anti-poverty educator; community director, Riverside educator; educator; anti-poverty anti-poverty educator; educator; community community director, Riverside school guidance Riverside Public Public school schoolactivist guidance guidance Philadelphia physician; journalist, NAACP director, officer; Oakwood Ebenezer church lay Sanitarium Civic League crusader; musician, director; innovator, activist; Baltimore educator, crusader; musician, elder, professor irector; Philadelphia physician; Baltimore educator, musician, choral director; crusader; musician, elder, and NAACP Philadelphia physician; crusader; musician, elder, andcommunity NAACP activist Physician; medical innovator, professor at atSchool counselor, principal; innovator, innovator, professor professor atat counselor, musician, choral director; director, Riverside musician, musician, choral choral director; director; crusader; musician, elder, NAACP activist Sanitarium crusader; crusader; musician, musician, elder, elder, and and and NAACP NAACP activist activist Sanitarium Physician; medical College president leader; Pine Forge Community Center; elder, Sabbath principal; Physician; medical Sanitarium counselor, counselor, principal; principal; community activist; 21) officer; Oakwood Sabbath School teacher Ebenezer church Riverside lay journalist, Miner Teachers’ College 1) PhD, Harvard (1921) journalist, Sabbath School teacher Sabbath School teacher donor Columbus-based teacher community activist; NAACPNAACP community activist Miner Teachers’ College community activist; Miner Miner Teachers’ Teachers’ College College community director, PhD, Harvard (1921) PhD, PhD, Harvard Harvard (1921) (1921)director, Sanitarium Sabbath School teacher Sabbath Sabbath School School teacher teacher activist community community activist activist Riverside communitydirector, and lay Riverside College president

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Byard simply recounted that “the Addison V.V.V. Pinkney Grace D. Kimbrough Addison V. Pinkney Grace D. Kimbrough Addison Addison Pinkney Pinkney

Grace Grace D.D. Kimbrough Kimbrough Addison V. Pinkney J. J.Mark CoxCox Grace D. Kimbrough J. Mark Mark Cox Baltimore educator, Philadelphia physician; J. Mark Baltimore educator, Philadelphia physician; educator,room Thephysician; first wasBaltimore a private in Cox the sanitarium, attendant told me that he regretted to say this, Baltimore Baltimore educator, educator, Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia physician; physician; Baltimore Physician; medical educator, Philadelphia physician; Physician; Physician; medical medical journalist, NAACP community activist; journalist, NAACP Physician; medical community activist; journalist, NAACP journalist, journalist, NAACP NAACPthe law of the State of Maryland community activist; community community activist; activist; director, Riverside journalist, NAACP community activist; secluded patients, with meals but it was against director, director, Riverside Riverside delivered officer; Oakwood Ebenezer church layfrom other officer; Oakwood director, Riverside Ebenezer church lay officer; officer; Oakwood Oakwood officer; Oakwood Ebenezer Ebenezer church church lay Ebenezer church lay Sanitarium officer; Oakwood Ebenezer church lay lay Sanitarium Sanitarium College president leader; Pinetray.

Forge donor on a Physicians would come by during “off to admitCollege colored people into the Sanitarium” president Sanitarium leader; PinePine Forge donor College College president president College president leader; leader; Forge donor donor College leader; Pine Forge donor president leader; PinePine ForgeForge donor

16

hours.” Hare portrayed this as a reasonable, even

and recommended that his wife be taken to

generous solution, given “the social sentiment that

Freedmen’s Hospital. It dumbfounded Byard that

exists in Maryland.” He does not seem to have

his wife’s need for “immediate attention” as a

given much reflection to how it would feel to be

gravely ill woman of advanced years who had just

quarantined on account of race, cut off from the

endured a “tiresome and painful” train trip—not

social and spiritual interaction essential to the

to mention that she was a sister in the faith for

sanitarium’s program. He also failed to mention

whom advance arrangements had been agreed

that the “private room” would be in the basement.

upon—did not take precedence over all other

The other option would be for Mrs. Byard to go

considerations.

to Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., for

Bewildered and deeply aggrieved, the Byards

“the diagnostic work” that she desired.

reluctantly took a taxi to Freedmen’s Hospital,

James Byard’s poignant, briefer narrative, sent

carrying a note from the sanitarium office

to G.E. Peters, director of the General Conference

explaining the referral. Lucy Byard remained in

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

Grace D. Grace Grace Philadelph Philade Philade Addison V. P community commu commu Baltimore edu Ebenezer Ebenezc Ebeneze journalist, NA leader; Pin leader; leader;

officer; Oakwo College presid

The time for change in Adventism came in 1943 because the Byard incident dramatized a long-standing pattern of abuse and failure in a way that exposed the status quo as intolerable. the care of Freedmen’s Hospital until her death a

exposed the status quo as intolerable. But the

month later on October 30.

justified outrage it evoked did not automatically

As news of the appalling incident sizzled

bring meaningful change in its wake. That

through telephone wires to concerned Adventists

required a courageous group of Black Adventist

throughout the nation then, and as the story

laity with the faith, skill, and resolve to organize

was repeated in the years that followed,

a network of support, give voice to an agenda for

embellishments and variations inevitably

change, and insist on being heard even though

developed. Lucy Byard’s death became conflated

the church’s governance system offered them no

with Washington Sanitarium’s refusal to admit her

viable channel for recognition or legitimacy and

for treatment. Versions varied on the details of her death, but a larger historical truth united them.

An act of blatant racial discrimination was closely juxtaposed with the death of the individual upon whom it was perpetrated. Conformity with racist customs caused an Adventist institution, which was defined by the sacred mission of nurturing life in its fullness, to send a member of its own family of faith away to die among strangers.

However, in our effort to understand just how the Byard incident became connected with decisive change in the Adventist church, it is significant that the refusal of treatment in itself sufficed to light a powder keg of accumulated grievance, frustration, and righteous indignation.

That explosion in turn energized a movement for constructive change. Exacerbated by W.G. Turner’s homiletical miscalculation, it emboldened a circumspect James Montgomery to disrupt the October 16 Sabbath worship service with impassioned protest. The time for a racial reckoning had come in Adventism, but far more than the emotive force of Lucy Byard’s death was involved in making it a reality.

The time for change in Adventism came in 1943 because the Byard incident dramatized a longstanding pattern of abuse and failure in a way that S E P T E M B E R 2020

17

presence in the denomination, Black believers had found it necessary on numerous occasions to point out to their white brethren how racial discrimination damaged the cause of God. But for the past five years, the concern had been rising to a more dangerous level than ever before.

The tenseness over race in American society in general just then underscored the urgency of Peters’ appeal in the minds of General Conference President J.L. McElhany and his colleagues. They had wrestled with the race question over and over through the years. But now, they recognized, it had reached a new level of urgency. Something broad and comprehensive needed to be done.

As he listened to Peters describe the situation, W.G. Turner formulated a plan of action. He believed he could quiet the storm brewing at some church leaders seemed determined to keep

Ephesus church over the Byard incident with

it that way. But by 1943 the latent power of the

a Sabbath sermon. Peters warned him against

Black Adventist laity had developed to the point

it. In this volatile situation, and especially with

that it could be drawn upon to mobilize righteous

this congregation, anything that smacked of

anger into a force for constructive change.

condescension or counsel of humble submission to injustice would only make things worse. He

18

Birth of a movement

reminded Turner of the congregation’s large

The fateful sermon on October 16 was the first

concentration of educators, outspoken community

public response by denominational leadership

activists, medical professionals, and civil servants.

after becoming aware that discontent was

But Turner forged ahead. After all, this problem

reaching a crisis level. G.E. Peters apprised the

fell within his realm of responsibility. It was

General Conference officers about the crisis

incumbent upon him to show decisive leadership.

when they met on Sunday, October 3. The Byard

As a vice president of the General Conference,

incident, he reported, “had aroused considerable

Turner had reached the highest echelons of an

feeling” among Black Adventists, both in

ecclesiastical bureaucracy that, by 1943, governed

Washington and everywhere the news had spread.

a rapidly growing, worldwide church with far-

As director of the North American Colored

reaching efficiency and hierarchical order. And

Department, Peters functioned as the lead

that hierarchy was entirely the preserve of white,

representative and spokesperson for African

male, ordained clergy.

American Adventists. This role placed on him

In preaching from 1 Peter 4 at Ephesus church

the delicate, two-fold responsibility of both

on October 16, Turner joined a long tradition

fostering the loyalty of Black believers to the

of using this and similar passages to reinforce

denomination and advocating on their behalf to

intersecting hierarchies. When discontent

the denominational leaders.

threatened to boil over and disrupt the system,

Throughout the 50 years of their substantial

the first priority of leadership was to remind the

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

Throughout the 50 years of their substantial presence in the denomination, Black believers had found it necessary on numerous occasions to point out to their white brethren how racial discrimination damaged the cause of God. people of their place. Turner did not try to justify

Conference is our master.”

the treatment of Lucy Byard nor did he deny that

The time for change had come in the Seventh-day

his listeners had been long aggrieved by racial

Adventist church. But change was not inevitable.

discrimination. This was the “fiery trial” that had

The Byard incident might have stirred impassioned

come upon them. But their job as Christian laity was

complaint, leading to a General Conference action

not to protest or attempt to take the solution into

for a study commission that would issue a report

their own hands. Rather, their job was to bear it with

filled with action plans that went nowhere, with

Christ-like submission, remain loyal to God’s church,

the entire episode then left to fester among the

and trust Him for the ultimate solution. It would

untreated racial wounds debilitating the Adventist

be the job of the General Conference leadership to

body. That did not happen because a group of

work out any adjustments that might be needed to

lay members from Washington, D.C.’s two Black

bring improvement.

Adventist churches—Ephesus and First church—

The apostolic guidance in 1 Peter was given

principally powered by women, decided it was their

for believers navigating the conflicts posed by life

calling to organize for change in a church governed

amidst Greco-Roman society. Rather than try to defy

by white clergymen—and not give up until it

the ordering structures of that society, the apostle

happened.

urged believers to engage them with Christ’s non-

They met that very evening, after the Sabbath

retaliatory love, even in the face of abuses of power

ended, to organize a movement for reform.

directed against them. But in the tradition of usage

Their goal was to unite the Black Adventist laity

represented by Turner, the apostle’s exhortations

in confronting denominational leadership with

were turned into counsels for uncomplaining

the necessity of swift and decisive action toward

submission to church hierarchy.

realization of the racial justice and equality that the

Further, the believers gathered at Ephesus church

church claimed to espouse. The Committee for the

that day were not only lay people governed by a

Advancement of World-Wide Work Among Colored

clerical hierarchy, they were among the 17,000 Black

Seventh-day Adventists (the Committee, for short)

Adventists in America in a church governed by an

was born.

all-white hierarchy. In that setting, nothing could

Their story suggests that change is possible. Not

have been better calculated to set off an explosion

necessarily ideal change, but worthwhile change,

than to turn back two chapters and bring into the

change against the odds, change worth the struggle.

message one of slaveholding Christianity’s signature passages: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear” (1 Peter 2:18, KJV). But apparently Turner ventured there, because the report of James Montgomery’s rejoinder concludes with him declaring, “I am not prepared to hear you say, ‘Servants obey your masters,’ meaning the General

Douglas Morgan teaches history at Washington Adventist University. This condensed version of the introduction is excerpted from Change Agents: The Lay Movement that Challenged the System and Turned Adventism Toward Racial Justice, available soon from Oak and Acorn.

S E P T E M B E R 2020

19

TikTok, I was Making Some Chai: How one pastor turned his love of chai into a social media ministry

BY CYNTHIA MENDOZA

PHOTOS: © PAUL BERSEBACH/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER VIA ZUMA PRESS

20

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

K

evin Wilson loves chai tea. The spicy aromas fill his senses with warmth and his soul with equally warm memories of his childhood with his father making tea at home in Sri Lanka. After coming to the U.S. 10 years ago,

making chai tea became a way to stay connected to his roots.

But you will never find this youth pastor waiting in a long drivethrough line while a random barista makes a mass-produced version of his childhood treat. Wilson makes his own tea from scratch, down to the mortar and pestle for hand grinding the cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, and other spicy ingredients that go into the flavorful drink.

Amongst his friends, Wilson became known for his love of chai.

Taking that love and expertise to social media, Wilson, associate pastor for youth at the Oceanside church in the Southeastern California Conference, started sharing chai-themed content on Instagram.

As youth in his congregation started engaging in TikTok, a relatively new video and voiceover social media platform, Wilson decided to take a look at the platform just to see what it was about and what it was that youth were involved in. Being already active on other platforms, he had no intention of becoming active on TikTok. Until he did.

What started out as a few experimental chai-themed videos

S E P T E M B E R 2020

21

22

that got good engagement quickly turned into a

use, even prior to TikTok, his profile information

massive following of over 119,000 followers. At

has indicated that he is a pastor. So even though

the time of this writing, Wilson’s combined TikTok

he does not necessarily speak on spiritual or

videos have garnered over 1.9 million likes.

religious topics, everyone who comes across his

“All it was was me making chai,” Wilson said. “I

profile and chooses to follow is aware that he is in

went from 200 followers to 20,000 followers in a

fact a Christian pastor.

month. I did not do it for the sake of ministry per

“Paul's letter to the Corinthians shows

se. It started off as a creative outlet to share my

that anyone who identifies themselves as an

passion of making and enjoying a beverage from

apprentice of Jesus may not be a minister in the

my culture.”

vocational sense but has a ministry nonetheless,”

Wilson, whose handle across YouTube,

said Wilson who, of course, is also a minister by

Instagram, and TikTok is @CrossCultureChristian,

vocation too. “What this means to me is that, as

said that though his intent to provide a fun place

Adventist Christians, our primary ministry is to

to share a part of his culture remains the same,

be agents of Christ-like love, especially to those

he also realizes how God can use him through this

who may feel ostracized, marginalized, and

channel.

disenfranchised by their life experiences or even

From the very beginning of his social media

bad religion.”

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

“This idea should liberate us to freely be our authentic selves, guided by the Holy Spirit, without compulsion nor obligation, to be agents of love.”

Through his chai-themed engagement on

heart, drawing them to Himself.

TikTok, Wilson has been a voice of love and

“If God is already at work in the world, then

positivity during a time when both seem in short

what we mean by ‘evangelism’ is not simply a

supply—even without direct mention of God or

program that we create but a partnership with a

religion.

God who has already been working there,” Wilson

For example, using TikTok’s duet feature,

said. “This idea should liberate us to freely be

Wilson shares videos of other TikTok users

our authentic selves, guided by the Holy Spirit,

making his chai recipe, offering positive and

without compulsion nor obligation, to be agents

encouraging feedback on what they’re doing,

of love.”

even if they made a mistake. In a time when

That heartfelt authenticity can take on many

social media is often used to shame and

different forms for different people, depending on

humiliate, something as simple as genuinely

their various interests and talents. Each person’s

positive feedback on tea-making can be

ministry and “audience” may also differ widely,

refreshing and positive, exactly what someone

but the commonality they all share is a desire

might have needed for a bad day to turn into a

and willingness to be used by the Holy Spirit for a

good one.

greater purpose.

“I get comments regularly saying that this is

Wilson added that one of the many lessons

the kind of positivity we need right now,” Wilson

he has learned so far through his social media

said about the feedback he gets from followers,

experience with people from all walks of life

many of whom are not Christian. “I know

and belief systems is that being created in the

they are of other belief systems by the direct

image of God implies that every human being

messages I get from atheists, agnostics, and

is designed with a capacity for love and to love,

friends from other belief systems who follow me

a fact that should compel Adventist Christians

with full knowledge of my vocation as a pastor

to approach all people with empathy and

and identity as a follower of Jesus.”

compassion.

Wilson believes God has opened up these

For Pastor Kevin Wilson’s 119,000 TikTok

doors of influence during this time, and he’s

followers, that love looks quite a bit like a steamy

embracing it. He believes that evangelism means

cup of homemade chai.

simply showing up where God has already shown up, and that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the world implies that God is at work in every human

Cynthia Mendoza, a former journalist, is a freelance writer in Southern California.

S E P T E M B E R 2020

23

TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS

BY WILLIAM JOHNSSON

A riverboat cruise through the Netherlands and Belgium when the tulips are at their glorious best—what could be more enchanting?

24

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

E

nchanting indeed. Acres of blooms in

top hats threatened life and limb.

a patchwork of living red, white, yellow,

Exotic! Amazing!

orange, and purple. But these flowers

But that wasn’t all. The best was yet to come.

weren’t planted to grace the florist

Unexpected, unadvertised, a big surprise awaited.

shops of countries far away; we learned that they

Dining on the riverboat featured tables of six.

would be sliced off while at their best so that the

The second evening of the cruise, Noelene and I

plant could pour its energy into the bulb. It was

happened to join two other couples—Bill and Cleo

the bulbs, not the flowers, that would be shipped

from Kentucky and Don and Clara from Northern

far away.

California. Retired from the military, Bill devotes

Millions of blooms just coming to their peak

his energies to providing Gideon Bibles for military

were being air freighted every day to the world’s

personnel. Don, a retired educator with a strong

markets. These blooms, however, hadn’t been cut

sense of social justice, has a wealth of stories from

from the farms. They grew under cover in huge

his life experiences.

hydroponic

nurseries—automated,

computer

Although we three couples came together

controlled. Day by day they budded and developed

without any previous acquaintance, before long we

as they were moved in batches, shunted from one

were swapping stories and kidding one another as

area to another, fed with water laden with carefully

though we were meeting together for a reunion.

calibrated nutrients. When the time was right,

Time at the table flew by; before we knew it, all

they moved into the production bay where huge

the other tables had emptied and the staff were

machines sliced away the bulb from the stem,

resetting the tables.

sorted and gathered them together, and bundled them ready for their flight around the world.

After that first encounter, we looked for each other every evening. The dynamic of the initial

Amazing! Enchanting! But that wasn’t all. Our

meeting grew even stronger. People at the other

tour took us to the famous “bridge too far” of the

tables figured we must be friends of long standing

Allies’ attack on Hitler’s empire, and to the old city

to be having such a good time together. The staff

of Bruges, with roads unchanged from the Middle

grew accustomed to ours being the last table to

Ages. We rambled down cobblestone streets,

leave.

dodging bicycles that came at us at high speed

The second or third evening, the bonding grew

and halted for no one. Meanwhile, clattering

stronger when the other Bill suggested that we

horse-drawn carriages driven by drivers wearing

have a grace for the meal. That established the pattern. And a funny thing happened: each evening,

From the book Simple Gifts, the new release by Oak & Acorn, now available on Amazon.com. The book is being serialized in the Recorder. See page 69 for information about how to get a pdf copy of the entire book.

drink waiters brought along wine selections for the meal. For the first few nights our new friends took a little wine, but by the final night they waved the drink waiters away.

S E P T E M B E R 2020

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So, to our last meal together—photographs,

talk, all about themselves.

sharing information so we could keep in touch.

When you are with someone you love, the

It was a lovely evening but bittersweet because

words don’t matter very much. You don’t have to

it would be our final time together. Then, in a

say anything at all. Presence fills in the silence.

beautiful act of love, we clasped hands as we joined in a benediction.

It really happened. I wonder what other

The gift of presence is everywhere around us, and it’s free. Every person—every person—has a story.

passengers thought of the six people at our table

People are interesting.

sitting with heads bowed and hands joined! What’s

People are funny.

with those people at that table. Are they having a

People are wonderful.

séance or something?

All we have to do to enjoy the gift of presence

After the cruise we stayed in touch. We all agreed that, with all the great sights and sounds

is open ourselves to everyone we meet. Every day, every one. The gift comes to us.

of the cruise, the best part by far was the evening meals together.

Some years ago, the German scholar Martin Buber wrote a small book that had a lasting impact.

For many people who take a vacation, their

The title translates into English as I and Thou. Simply

experience revolves around two questions: Where

written, the book speaks truth powerfully. Regard

did you go? What did you see? For Noelene and

everyone you meet as a thou not an it. Open up

me, however, more important than the where and

yourself to the wonderful gift of shared humanity.

the what is the who—who did we meet?

Then you will begin to live as a human being.

In India, that land of ancient thought, people long ago learned the value of the gift of presence.

Right on, Martin! That’s what our tulip cruise underscored in letters of living colors.

They had and still have a word for it: darshan.

I believe that there’s more, much more, than

Darshan means more than meeting a great person,

this life. I believe that God has put eternity in our

more than the conversation that might transpire

hearts, that every now and then it breaks out and

at the meeting. Darshan signifies the gift of just

gives us a glimpse of what life will be on the other

being there—being with.

side.

For a lot of people in America, life has become

There will be singing there, lots of it.

so crazy that they can hardly grasp this gift of presence. They have become used to filling every

silence,

crack of silence with sound. Talk, talk, talk. Talking,

but

not listening. Thinking about what they are going

with the presence of

to say next, not about what the other person is

others.

telling them.

Degraded discourse, that’s what it is. Talk, talk, 26

And there will be

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R

praise

silence

God, filled

And with the supreme Presence.

Adventist Health

Adventist Health Welcomes First Mission Leadership Intern to Expand Ministry of Hospitality, Hope

by Alex Bryan

I

n this autumn season, we find ourselves surrounded: a virulent virus, a weakened economy, racial strife, a cruel political incivility, widespread anxiety, depression, loneliness, and malaise.

What’s a Christian to do?

Adventist Health is a humanitarian ministry of 37,000 associates serving more than 9 million people in over 80 communities on the West Coast and in Hawaii. Our answer to a chronically inhospitable and often acutely hostile world? Hospitality. Hospitality in the deepest sense of the word. The healing, wholistic, hopeful hospitality of Jesus.

This work includes physicians, nurses, therapists, counselors, and an expansive support team. It also includes the unique labor of chaplains—clergy expertly trained to minister to caregivers, patients, families, and communities. These dedicated, highly skilled professionals work to turn mere clinics into houses of hope. They are tasked to lead hospitals to live up to their highest, original purpose: Christian hospitality. In a world “harassed and helpless” … “like sheep without a shepherd,” chaplains “see the crowds and have compassion on them.” They “proclaim the good news of the kingdom and heal every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:3536).

They do the work of Jesus.

Adventist Health’s Office of Mission has launched a new program to recruit and train young Adventist leaders in the sacred calling of pastoral work in

a healthcare setting. This August, the Mission Leadership Internship program welcomed our first candidate, Katie Wagner, a 2020 graduate of Walla Walla University. The curriculum includes full employment as an Adventist Health associate, four units of Clinical Pastoral Education, and sponsorship of a M.Div. degree.

“There’s beautiful hope in this care,

a hope that our world so desperately needs right now,” says Wagner. “We have the incredible opportunity to lead, care for, and share God’s love with every person we encounter and serve: our associates, patients, community members, and beyond. That mission to live God’s love is something I deeply resonate with and am passionate about. I’m looking forward to experiencing the positive impact our Adventist Health community will continue to have in this world.”

Wagner joins a systemwide team of approximately 100 clergy—spiritual care directors, clinical chaplains, and on-call pastors—dedicated to tangibly supplying the hope of Jesus in a world hungering for something to believe in. The healing ministry of Jesus, pervasive and prioritized in the Gospel record, is the blueprint of our work. His commitment to universal compassion, excellence in care, and wholistic medicine—alleviating mental, physical, social, and spiritual disease—is our collective vocation.

This world is a dangerous place. But Jesus has called us to be God’s loving, hopeful hold until He comes again.

“We have the incredible opportunity to lead, care for, and share God’s love with every person we encounter and serve: our associates, patients, community members, and beyond. That mission to live God’s love is something I deeply resonate with and am passionate about.”

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Arizona Conference

Arizona Adventurer Family Camp

By Manny Cruz

A

s the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout Arizona, it not only created various challenges for ministry but also many opportunities. The Arizona Conference Adventurer Coordinators decided to not cancel the annual Family Camp and instead hold a virtual Family Camp where kids and their families could camp in their living rooms or backyards and still participate in the weekend event.

Under the theme “God Works in Me,” more than 50 Adventurer Clubs registered and participated in the virtual camp earlier this summer.

On Friday evening, hundreds of Adventurers and their families tuned in via Facebook and YouTube to be greeted by the Arizona Adventurer area coordinators: Elda Diaz, Ugonna Woods, Chely Sanchez, Marlene Navarro, and Celina Navarrete.

Conference President Ed Keyes also greeted the virtual campers from his

living room, where he had set up his camping tent.

Carmen Cruz wrote the theme song and led worship for the virtual camp. Pastor Melanie Cruz from the Camelback church served as the host for the weekend program.

The guest speaker was Rich Aguilera, “The Mud Guy,” from Berrien Springs, Michigan. One of the highlights of the virtual camp was a new Arizona Adventurer who also served as a co-host. He was a puppet

Under the theme “God Works in Me,” more than 50 Adventurer Clubs registered and participated in the virtual camp earlier this summer.

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Arizona Conference

named “A.Z.� who was funny and very entertaining.

On Sabbath morning, the Adventurers were greeted by Pastor Andres Peralta, the World Adventurer Director, all the way from Silver Spring, Maryland. Little Ketziah and Sebastian Estrada from the Scottsdale-Thunderbird Club shared a beautiful song.

Jehiel Bright, an Adventurer from China, also shared a song as special music. Pastor Armando Miranda Jr., the North American Division

Adventurer Director, shared words of encouragement.

It was nerve-racking to try and livestream all of these different people from all over the world, since we were all new to using the technology.

We discovered that it’s much easier having people in the same location.

However, God blessed, and everyone enjoyed the programs.

The livestream was viewed by Adventurers from Arizona and all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central America, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, China, Italy,

Bermuda, and Barbados. It was a bit overwhelming to discover that on Sabbath morning there were more than 900 people watching the livestream. Praise God that everything worked OK and there were no problems with the technology.

The Adventurers spent the rest of the Sabbath doing crafts and participating in various hands-on activities that included a Bible trivia game and cooking. Many parents and grandparents reported that the kids were engaged and seemed to enjoy the livestream. They were glued to their computers, tablets, smartphones, and TVs throughout the weekend.

The Adventurers enjoyed the music and messages, and they loved how fun and interactive the virtual camp was. They even learned how to make a simple and quick camp-style meal with limited ingredients.

The Adventurers were asked to send in pictures of their pets and all their activities during the weekend.

At the end of the virtual camp, they were treated to a slideshow featuring all of the pictures of themselves and their pets.

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Central California Conference

Memories Continue

Even When a Building Burns

By Deloris Trujillo

“One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NKJV).

Post on July 19, 2020 MBA loses a piece of history to fire.

At approximately 9:45pm Saturday evening, MBA’s Beach Auditorium caught fire and was lost to the flames. The fire was contained to only the Beach Auditorium and all other buildings were untouched. There were no injuries and everyone on campus is safe. We do not know the cause of the fire, but we are very blessed that no one was harmed and the fire was contained.

The building was the original auditorium from the WWII Camp McQuaide and was used for decades in the early years of MBA. It’s a sad historical loss to the MBA campus and we ask for your prayers as we face the cleanup project.

Hail MBA we Love You!

P

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that Principal Jeff Deming uploaded about the fire. Reading the comments is like taking a walk down memory lane. They certainly showed how many memories Beach Auditorium held for those who celebrated their graduations or other events there.

Although one of the few remaining original structures on campus is now gone, Ramiro Cano, Central California Conference (CCC) president and chairperson of the MBA school board, reflected, “Beach Auditorium

Auditorium before it burned.

PHOTO: SHAINA POTTS

erhaps those most stunned by the news that Beach Auditorium burned to the ground on Saturday evening, July 18, were Monterey Bay Academy (MBA) alumni who attended between 1949 and 1987—after which the building was no longer used. The building held a sense of nostalgia, as was evident on MBA’s social media accounts. Clearly those recollections were uppermost for those who shared and replied to the Facebook and YouTube video

Central California Conference provided many positive memories over the years. Even though the building is no longer with us, the memories will endure and we will continue to cherish them. The fire is a reminder that on this side of eternity, nothing endures. We look forward to a better day, where we no longer will be impacted by such losses.” Ken Bullington, CCC vice president for education and superintendent of schools, seconded those thoughts: “Beach Auditorium can never be replaced, but there always will be memories and pictures to take a person back to some very special moments in time. As we look forward to Christ’s return, it also reminds us that we can't take our earthly possessions with us.”

Beach Auditorium was considered a historic site. Originally called the Pacific Amphitheater, it was built during World War II at Camp McQuaide, a coastal artillery-training center and the official stockade for army deserters. The CCC acquired Camp McQuaide on August 13, 1948, along with 380 acres from the War Assets Administration of the U.S. government for “100% discount” (meaning “at no cost”). The story of this acquisition is both amazing and miraculous and is thanks to the dedication and hard work of Leal Grunke and others who labored to transform it into what it is today.

Grunke, who died in 1979, would never have wanted any praise and adulation, but MBA would not exist if not for his work to obtain and transform the property from 600 abandoned buildings on acres of unsightly cement to the beautiful campus it is today. A quote from his diary, which is on a brass plaque in the administration building bearing his name, defines his vision: “I believe God selected the site by the sea for a boarding academy. He happened to use me as a worker to help Him

(Top) Beach Auditorium as Camp McQuaide Theater in the 1940s. The MBA band fills the auditorium stage (left) and a graduation service (right) in the 1960s. advance His work and I am so thankful to have had the privilege. My only purpose in life is to be a devoted worker for God and to be at the right place at the right time. Take a boy or girl from ordinary pursuits, teach them faith and confidence in God, and they can go from MBA and do extraordinary things in God’s Name.”

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation as of this writing, and many ideas are forming as to what can now be done with that part of the campus, MBA will continue to provide Christian education “Where Land and Sea Unite to Inspire.”

According to the MBA website, students will move into dorms on August 16 and school will start the next day (unless county health department orders are changed).

Things will be different this year due to the challenges of the pandemic, but MBA will do everything possible to keep students and staff safe.

Just how, and what that means, is outlined in their MBA Re-Opening Plan (and Deming’s video message), which can be accessed on their

Facebook and website at www. montereybayacademy.org.

According to Deming, the school’s theme for the 2020-2021 school year will be “Press On,” taken from Philippians 3:13-14. Unless the county decides otherwise, MBA is “pressing on” in its plans to re-open this fall. Deming and the staff look forward to welcoming students back for an interesting but important school year.

Grunke’s daughter, Darlene, certainly would agree with that theme and no doubt would challenge the school as she did in 2000 when receiving her father’s Hall of Faith Award. Her message then is still relevant today: “Stay faithful.

Continue to continue on. Be of good courage! Never, never, never give up!

God loves you. He has selected you for a purpose. And may He continue to richly bless the students, parents, staff, faculty, but mostly to bless the goal: To consistently proclaim the mission: To Unite, To Inspire, and to ‘Go and Teach.’ God’s richest blessings on Monterey Bay Academy!”

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Central California Conference

Cast Not the Pole but the Net

By Lilliana Jimenez

“When we labor under His direction, we rejoice in the evidence of His power. He inspires us with faith and hope.

He whose word could gather fishes from the sea can also impress human hearts and draw them so that His servants may become ‘fishers of men’” (Ellen G. White, From Heaven With Love, p. 159).

A

t first, it seemed discouraging. On March 11, employees at the Central California Conference (CCC) received an email with the information that the 2020 Soquel Camp Meeting had been canceled because of the pandemic. It was understandable; nevertheless, the news was met with disappointment and collective sadness when it was announced throughout the conference. This would have marked the 72nd year for the camp meeting, which gathers up to 10,000 people to the Santa Cruz area.

However, the cancelation of camp meeting and the crisis of the pandemic provided an opportunity for innovation and action.

Perhaps there was a new way to become “fishers of men” and spread the message of reassurance to multitudes that had been left shaken, angry, or confused by recent events. The CCC motto, “Church is not closed, just the building,” provided the catalyst to creatively explore opportunities that would advance evangelism. Indeed, why not see how God, in His mighty

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(Left) Pastor Erik Jimenez and his wife Martha lead the Q/A segment after every seminar.

(Top left) Seminars were given by speakers from Adventist institutions who are wellknown as respected scholars and experts in their fields. (Top right) The quartet ASAF uplifts viewers with hymns during the program. power, could turn a tragedy into a blessing? Little was it realized at that point how amazing this blessing would be.

Believing that this was the time to “cast not the pole but the net” to reach

as wide an audience as possible, the Hispanic pastoral team put plans into action for the first-ever CCC biblical theological symposium. With the help of Erik Jimenez Milla, the Hispanic biblical investigation coordinator,

Central California Conference

“Hearing the messages that were presented helped me reconnect to the Adventist roots that I had lost. It has filled my heart, fortified my faith, and returned to me my identity as an Adventist.” and several other pastors, the Primer Simposio Biblico-Teologico would revolve around the theme of “La Biblia y los eventos finales” (the Bible and last-day events). Well-known and respected Adventist scholars who were considered experts in their fields would provide the seminars.

CCC Hispanic Ministries Director Ricardo Viloria explained, “Our principal goal was to present a relevant and balanced message. Many sources of information on the internet or social media do not present our beliefs correctly. It can cause our members to become confused, divided, or even worry about what they see or hear.

It is vital for us to bring clarity and unity to our members. The future may still bring more hardships and uncertainties. It is important that we know what we believe in order to arrive safely at our destination.”

The symposium, held from July 1118, had amazing results. Using social media applications such as Facebook and YouTube, promotion for the event started two weeks earlier. Within 60 minutes of the first promotion, the Facebook post had reached 3,000 people—and the numbers continued to climb. People were not only viewing from the local conference territory but from South America, Europe, Asia, and Canada. The many messages of support and appreciation encouraged the organizing team to continue. Praying and working harder than ever, while working through some technical glitches, the team heard amazing news: viewership was now over 500,000 people and continuing to climb! There is no doubt that God does not use a single pole when He can use a net.

The powerful messages of salvation touched the hearts of those who watched. Bringing tears to the eyes of the team, one listener commented, “Hearing the messages that were presented helped me reconnect to the Adventist roots that I had lost. It has filled my heart, fortified my faith, and returned to me my identity as an Adventist.”

Relationships were frequently formed through the comments and chats. During the questionand-answer segments after every program, viewers were able to ask any question that related to the topic of the day. As a result of the symposium, those churches, conferences, and unions who participated have seen a revival and unity among the Hispanic church family around the world.

The success of this event was achieved through the power and opportunities that God provided. It has now expanded to a live program every Friday evening entitled “Echoes of the Symposium.” In the same way that a fisherman needs assistance if fishing with a net, the team is certain they can only complete God’s mission by helping one another. As the early Christians learned, there is strength in unity and the results will be multitudes coming to Jesus.

“More and more people believed in the Lord, and many men and women were added to the group of believers” (Acts 5:14, ERV).

All of the seminars given in the symposium were recorded and are archived on the YouTube and Facebook pages. Find and follow at @ CCCHispanicMinistries. (Programs are in Spanish.)

This event is CCC's first ever biblical symposium. (Middle) A book will be available on Amazon that has all the information from the symposium. (Above) CCC Hispanic Ministries Director Ricardo Viloria started every program with a greeting and prayer.

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Hawaii Conference

Hawaii Welcomes New Pastors

Pastor Andre Weston Pastor Andre Weston received a call to the Hawaii Conference in February of 2020. He has been serving in pastoral ministry for 4 ½ years. Weston received his Master of Divinity degree from the Seventhday Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in 2015 and also holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Communication from American University in Washington, D.C. Weston is passionate about community engagement, evangelism, and creating nurturing space within the local church for youth and young adults to grow in Jesus. In a previous district assignment, Weston worked with the local church to create a

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quarterly youth Sabbath program, which led to the baptisms of six youth.

Weston is very excited to be part of the Hawaii Conference and to join the Pacific Union Conference family.

He firmly believes that Hawaii is a wonderful mission field for service to Christ. Weston is married to his wife of seven years, Dr. Nicole Weston, and together they have enjoyed learning about their community on the Big Island, experiencing the island’s bountiful natural beauty, and writing songs and poems together.

Coming to the Hawaii Conference certainly happened in unusual times.

Due to COVID-19 risks, Weston’s arrival was delayed, and he began his tenure with the Hawaii Conference via digital ministry from Mississippi.

When he finally arrived in Hawaii, he continued digital ministry from home

at first due to the state’s mandatory quarantine for new arrivals. Learning to serve through distance and digital ministry required using new technology, coordinating across time zones, and coming up with a systemic communications plan to keep the churches engaged while they worked toward reopening.

Weston looks at “quarantine” ministry as one of the many adventures that come when you follow the clear instructions of the Lord to the mission where He wants you. He and Nicole are happy to be in God’s will and about His business on the Big Island.

Pastor Enoch Brownell Pastor Enoch Brownell was born and raised in California. The youngest of four children, Brownell gave his life to Jesus Christ and followed Him into ministry at the age of 17. He served as a literature evangelist, Bible worker, youth pastor, and high school chaplain over the next few years.

In 2005, Brownell graduated with a B.A. in Religion from Weimar College. Just a few weeks later, he married the woman of his dreams,

Weston looks at “quarantine” ministry as one of the many adventures that come when you follow the clear instructions of the Lord to the mission where He wants you.

Hawaii Conference

Brownell's philosophy is that we are all called to be “priests”—that God has given us the privilege and responsibility to seek after the lost and bring them to the feet of Jesus for healing and salvation.

Melissa, and began full-time pastoral ministry in the Northern New England Conference. After serving as a district pastor for four years, he moved his family to Berrien Springs, Michigan, to attend the seminary at Andrews University. In 2012, Brownell received an M.Div. degree and began eight years of ministry serving in the Northern California Conference.

Recently, Brownell was called to the Hawaii Conference to pastor the

Honolulu Japanese church in Manoa, Oahu.

He shares 15 years of marriage with Melissa, and they have been blessed with four beautiful children: Taliah, Titus, Tessah, and Taten.

His philosophy is that we are all called to be “priests”—that God has given us the privilege and responsibility to seek after the lost and bring them to the feet of Jesus for healing and salvation.

Postponement of Hawaii Conference Constituency Meeting The Hawaii Conference Executive Committee voted to postpone for one year the 2020 Constituency Meeting.

This means that all other related or accompanying meetings are also being postponed—Area Town Hall Meetings, Organizing Committee, Nominating Committee—in addition to the planned meeting on September 27, 2020. This decision has been a difficult one to make.

Below is the Executive Committee action that was taken: Whereas, the 2020 General Conference session has been postponed for one year due to the prevalence of Covid-19, Whereas, the Hawaii Conference Executive Committee voted to postpone all 2020 convocations until next year, Whereas, some churches have indicated they will not be sending any members to attend the Hawaii Conference Town Hall Meetings, neither delegates to the Organizing Committee nor to the Constituency Meeting, due to Covid-19, Whereas, conventional wisdom is discouraging airline travel due to risks in contracting Covid-19, Whereas, some churches are still not physically meeting on Sabbaths and most, if not all, have significantly reduced their Sabbath School and Worship times in efforts to reduce Covid-19 exposure, Whereas, a significant amount of individuals continue choosing to "attend" Sabbath School and Worship services through Zoom or other electronic platforms, Whereas, the State of Hawaii is presently experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases, Whereas, the Hawaii Conference takes its role seriously in seeking to protect the safety of members and of the community at large, Whereas, the constituency meeting process involves multiple meetings such as Town Hall Meetings, an Organizing Committee, a Nominating Committee, as well as the constituency meeting itself, Whereas, it is the desire of the Hawaii Conference to safeguard the dignity, purpose, and integrity of its constituency meeting and to thus ensure the largest possible participation of its delegates, VOTED, that the Hawaii Conference postpone its regularly-scheduled 2020 constituency meeting for one year.

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Holbrook Indian School Daniel Nicholls

A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946

Not by Chance

By Jessica Burns, Daniel and Olga Nicholls; with Nicole Potgieter

Every staff member who joins the HIS family has a story. The way God has led each of us here is nothing short of miraculous. No one comes by chance. In this article, Jessica, our business manager; Daniel, our agriculture director; and Olga, our music teacher, share how the Lord led each of them to Holbrook Indian School.

Jessica: About this time last year, I was struggling to find meaning and fulfilment in the job I had in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A friend of mine from church heard that I was looking for an accounting job and sent me an email with the job description for the accounting position at HIS. I took one look at the location of the school and decided that Arizona was not the place for me. I did not want to live in the desert in the middle of nowhere.

Some time passed. One night, my housemate and I were chatting

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and I casually brought up the job at Holbrook Indian School, expecting her to laugh at the crazy idea of my applying. Instead she looked intently at me and said, “I think you should apply.” That simple reply washed away all my excuses. In about a month’s time, I was on my way to Holbrook Indian School to become their accountant.

How did I become business manager if I came to be the accountant? Once again, God had His way. When HIS started looking for a replacement for our business

manager, several my coworkers asked me if I was going to apply. “Nope, not interested,” was my reply. But I could feel God working on my heart to apply. Just like I did when He told me to come out here, I balked, argued, and found excuse after excuse, but God was persistent. Finally, to ease my mind, I asked for a fleece, like Gideon.

I was sure that the thing I asked for would never happen, but about a month later, it happened. Now I had to decide if I was going to obey God’s leading or keep running.

I decided to obey. I know God has

Holbrook Indian School

Olga Nicholls

Jessica Burns

PHOTOS: CHEVON PETGRAVE

placed me here for a reason. I know that God is leading and guiding my life, even when I am hesitant or obstinate. I pray that my testimony will serve as a reminder that God is calling all of us to His service; we just need to be willing to answer.

Olga: My journey to HIS started years ago when I was a missionary in Cambodia. After I finished my service as a music teacher there in 2012, I found the Holbrook Indian School website. It captured my attention, and I got super excited for what the school was doing. I started thinking and dreaming about how awesome it would be to be a music teacher at HIS, but it wasn’t God’s time. In 2014, after

serving for two years in South Korea, I decided to contact HIS and send my résumé. It still wasn’t God’s time, years passed, and I forgot about HIS. Then, earlier this year, my husband, Daniel, and I were praying and looking for the next place where God was going to lead us as we were going to start a new life together in service to God. I was looking at the NAD website while I was on the phone with Daniel, and I found the agriculture director opening at Holbrook Indian School.

With excitement, I started reading and told Daniel that this seemed to be a good position for him. But I was looking for a music teaching position, and there was none at the moment.

Daniel: When my wife, Olga, told me about the agriculture director position at Holbrook Indian School, I was very excited. However, I was not

Holbrook Indian School (HIS) is a first- through twelfth-grade boarding academy operated by the Pacific Union Conference of the Seventhday Adventist Church. HIS also manages a first- through eighth-grade day school on the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona. Eighty percent of funding comes from individuals who have a desire to support Native American ministries and Christian education. Your generosity makes a difference in the lives of our students, their families, and the communities they serve. Thank you for your support.

certain that it would be a good fit for the two of us. The main problem was that there were not any good jobs for her in the area. Thus, as I went through the application process, I was skeptical and kept other options open. While praying about it, I told God “If they were also looking for a music teacher, I would be sure about it.” I did not need to have every uncertainty removed, but God has never asked me to take a leap of faith without giving me the chance to know for sure that He was asking me to do it and that I was not following my own plans.

When I got the email that the music teacher position had opened up, I just looked up and said “OK, let’s go for it.” I never looked back from that point, and even before I came for the interview, I never doubted that God had led my wife and me here.

Seventh-day Adventist DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 910 Holbrook, Arizona 86025-0910 (928) 524-6845 (Ext. 109) Development@hissda.org HolbrookIndianSchool.org

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La Sierra University -

An aerial view of La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif.

La Sierra University Online for Fall, Offers Tuition Subsidy

By Darla Martin Tucker

I

n keeping with recently released California Department of Public Health guidance, La Sierra University will hold the majority of fall quarter classes online, with allowed exceptions for certain labs and studio classes.

It is also providing an automatic 10 percent fall quarter tuition subsidy for all enrolled students. School begins Monday, Sept. 21.

The university’s Emergency Management Team (EMT), which has met regularly since March to provide direction during the pandemic crisis, voted on Aug. 13 to maintain general instruction and operations online for the fall quarter in keeping with state guidelines for higher education that were released on Aug. 7. Under those guidelines, select science labs and art studio-type classes may be offered in person as long as careful measures are implemented to create a safe and healthy learning environment.

Thus, La Sierra’s academic leadership

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is exploring which of these kinds of classes might be offered on campus this fall in adherence with strict state guidelines concerning physical distancing, sanitization, and other protocols as detailed in the Aug. 7 guidance.

Additionally, the decision by the EMT allows for some students to move into campus dorms based on state directives and on selection criteria established by the university. Details pertaining to athletics practices, communication of pandemic protocol and operations, protocol

compliance strategies, additional safety procedures, and other matters will be addressed in forthcoming EMT decisions. Such actions will be incorporated into a four-part, detailed COVID-19 protocol plan that aligns with the state guidelines for higher education, which the EMT, through the work of four task force groups, has developed over the past several weeks.

Also, in order to give La Sierra’s new and returning students as much assistance as possible during the economic havoc wrought by the

La Sierra University COVID-19 pandemic, the university has approved an automatic 10 percent subsidy on the combined total of fall quarter tuition and fees for all students. The move is in keeping with the university’s efforts to provide a variety of financial resources to help its students handle the costs of college. In 2018-2019, 97.5 percent of La Sierra’s undergraduate students received financial aid that did not have to be repaid.

Following is a summary of La Sierra University’s fall operations plan: • Online instruction and advising for all regular classes utilizing Zoom video conferencing, Blackboard online learning, GoogleMeets, Microsoft Teams, and Panopto lecture capture software.

• Continued campus closure to all but essential staff and faculty, vendors, and allowed dorm students.

• Certain in-person science labs and art studio classes as allowed by state and county public health department mandates and in keeping with state and local guidelines for physical distancing, sanitization, mask-wearing requirements, wellness checks, and other protocol.

• Continued suspension of public events and athletics varsity and intramural games.

• Students who are not able to return home and those who meet other criteria are allowed to live in campus dormitories and must abide by campus health and safety protocols.

• Continued use of campus entrance and self-reporting wellness checks, state-mandated mask-wearing requirements, and physical distancing for anyone entering campus.

• Continued suspension of all university-sponsored travel outside of the country with a requirement that those who travel abroad on personal trips must avoid campus for

14 days after returning. Non-essential domestic travel is also discouraged.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the California Pacific Conference, of which the university’s Golden Eagles athletics program is a member, announced at the end of July that fall season sports and NAIA championships would move to spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since moving its operations online in March, the university has planned and hoped for a retraction in the pandemic’s spread that would allow for safe, on-campus learning utilizing a hybrid model of instruction that provides students with online or inperson options. However Riverside County, where La Sierra University is located, is among 38 counties that remain on California’s pandemic watch list for increasing COVID-19 cases, among other key indicators, and where the state has restricted colleges and universities from holding the majority of in-person classes as well as social and school gatherings.

The Emergency Management Team’s detailed campus re-opening protocol plan will be implemented when state and county public health officials as well as campus leadership deem it is safe to return to campus.

Components of the plan are being used currently to comply with government requirements that relate to the university’s restricted campus functions.

“While we are disappointed that we cannot yet fully open our beautiful campus, we are grateful for the work and guidance provided to us by public health experts whose task it is to keep the community safe and to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” said La Sierra University President Joy Fehr. “It is our overarching goal as a Christian Seventh-day Adventist university to respond to Jesus’ call to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We do this when we strive to the best of our ability to ensure the safety our campus and our Riverside community by working with public health agencies during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Emergency Management Team has done an excellent job in preparing the university for functioning well during this difficult time. We look forward with great anticipation to welcoming our new and returning students and helping them reach their educational goals. We are grateful to be able to help financially support their efforts through the 10 percent subsidy.”

In 2017, a student conducts virus research in a biology lab.

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Loma Linda University Health

COVID-19 Pandemic Causing Uptick

in Stress-related Heart Issues

By Heather Jackson

S

ince the COVID-19 pandemic began, physicians in the U.S. report having seen an increase in stressinduced cardiomyopathy—also known as broken heart syndrome—according to a study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The increased rate of heart problems, doctors say, is due to economic, physical, and social stressors.

Purvi Parwani, MD, a Loma Linda University International Heart Institute cardiovascular disease specialist, said COVID-19 has led to emotional, physical, and financial stress in lives across the world.

“Loneliness and isolation during a pandemic, coupled with multiple levels of duties at home and added economic burden, has our patients worried,” Parwani said.

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy can occur in response to emotional or physical stress, which can inhibit the heart muscle’s ability to pump.

When this happens, patients can experience symptoms similar to that of a heart attack, such as shortness of breath, chest pain, or palpitations.

However, this type of stress generally doesn’t go so far as to produce acute blockage of the arteries.

"We all know personal stories of ourselves or loved ones who feel overwhelmed by the nation's current state," Parwani said. "If we are not careful about managing our stress properly, it can have detrimental effects on our cardiovascular health.”

Parwani offers these three tips to reduce stress and protect one of your most vital organs: Breathe or meditate. Breathing deeply and meditating is one of the strongest and easiest ways to reduce stress. When you breathe deeply, it causes your body to return to a relaxed state gradually. Meditation can offer the same relief when you take a second to think, breathe, and let stress leave your body.

Exercise or walk. Exercising releases natural endorphins that can lift your mood. Regularly exercising

or going for walks can lift your mood and reduce stress. Walking can also be an easy option for getting fresh air, which can also be moodboosting.

Connect with others. Social connection has declined since stayat-home orders have been in place.

Without that social connection, many people have become sad in isolation. Parwani suggests finding alternative ways to connect with others through the use of technology, writing letters, or even making phone calls.

If any of your symptoms are also accompanied by dizziness, fainting spells, or shortness of breath, contact your doctor immediately.

These symptoms combined can be an identifier of a more significant cardiovascular health issue.

See the latest news and Health & Wellness stories from Loma Linda University Health at news.llu.edu.

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Loma Linda University Health

How Loma Linda University Health

is Addressing Racial Disparities in the Medical Workforce

By DonaJayne Potts

PHOTO COURTESY OF LLUH HEALTH DISPARITY CENTER

E

ducation is one of the most effective ways to help break the poverty cycle and increase job opportunity among racial minority populations—who are more than two times as likely to be poor than non-Hispanic whites and who represent only 8% of the STEM and 11% of the physician workforce— in the United States, according to Marino De Leon, PhD. As director of Loma Linda University School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine (CHDMM), De Leon said he has witnessed how Black and Hispanic students have benefited over the years from educational interventions to increase their participation in biomedical fields.

“Racial minorities experience health disparities primarily because of a variety of social determinants of health, including poverty, inadequate access to healthcare, educational opportunities, and discrimination,” he said.

The center’s investigators are actively doing research on biological determinants in cancer, diabetes, neuropathy pain, and traumatic stress that are linked with social determinants, which help explain mechanisms behind health disparities, De Leon said.

Its programs include: Apprenticeship Bridge to College (ABC) Program – An eight-week summer internship in health disparities research for high school students

living in Southern California’s Inland Empire who are from disadvantaged backgrounds or belong to groups that are nationally underrepresented in STEM disciplines. 271 research internships have been awarded.

Undergraduate Training Program – A two-month summer research internship for undergraduate college and university students, focusing on practical lab research experience alongside distinguished faculty, while providing mentorship in support of their future academic and research goals. More than 270 research summer internships have been awarded.

Medical Training Program – Open to students following their first year in medical school, this summer program enables underrepresented racial minority medical students to gain basic research and scientific experience on a selected summer research project with prominent scientists. Students are compensated with a stipend during

the program through funding.

Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) Program – Nearly 60 awards have been made through this NIH-funded year-round educational graduate training program that provides full support (tuition and salary) for Ph.D. students enrolled in the LLU Integrated Biomedical Graduate Studies Program in the School of Medicine.

The program strengthens graduate education by increasing diversity among students graduating with a Ph.D. degree in a biomedical discipline at Loma Linda University, which is one of 41 research universities in the U.S. that are funded by NIGMS to implement the IMSD program.

To learn more about minority health disparity research or to apply to one of the Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine’s education programs, visit their website at medicine.llu.edu/chdmm.

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Nevada-Utah Conference

Called to Serve

A

By Damon Washington

volunteer lay pastor (VLP) is a person who volunteers their time in order to help lead a congregation that cannot afford to have its own pastor. The VLP is mentored and supervised by the director of the VLP ministry and other Nevada-Utah Conference (NUC) clergy. The NUC territory, which has congregations in four states, has several small congregations and church plants where they plan to place VLPs. Who is qualified to serve? The VLP must be a person who, first and foremost, loves the Lord in words and action. The VLP must have a desire for serving the Lord and others—a person who loves people. Their desire is not to be up front to be seen by others, nor are they looking to control a church. They are willing to work with the rest of the laity as a unified team, to serve not only the members but also their community.

The VLP is not brought on board to maintain the status quo but to help build the church spiritually and to move the church forward to reach the community. VLPs are to unify the congregation, and they are responsible for leading out in evangelism efforts. Their responsibilities include administrative duties, preparing the church service, visitation, conducting prayer meetings, and preaching.

The VLP is not brought on board and then left to themselves to figure things out. The director of the VLP Ministry works closely with each of the VLPs and is responsible for providing them with the proper training and guidance. They report their needs and how things are progressing to the director, who is committed to supporting them and seeing that they are successful in ministry. Post-COVID-19, the director

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(Top left) Jose Karry is the new volunteer lay pastor for the Fallon, Nev., church, accompanied by his wife, Claritza. (Middle) Heading up the new VLP program for the Nevada-Utah Conference is Damon Washington, who also serves as associate pastor for the Riverview and Truckee churches, supported by his wife, Jeanice. (Right) Terry Janzen is now serving the Yerington, Nev., church as a volunteer lay pastor. will visit the various churches that have VLPs serving.

On April 1, 2020, Terry Janzen became the first VLP for the NUC, serving the Yerington church in Nevada. Terry is well qualified and has a love for serving God’s people; he has already added members to this congregation. He and his wife, Kathy, are both retired and have served as evangelists and elders. Terry and Kathy's love for Christ and His church is their priority. They are new to the Nevada-Utah Conference, coming recently from Northern California, and have been welcomed with open arms.

A VLP is currently in the process of being added to the Fallon church in Nevada. Jose Karry is no stranger to being a lay pastor; he has previously led other congregations. Jose, who was unanimously voted by the Fallon

church to be their VLP, graciously accepted the responsibility and has the support of the entire elder board.

Jose, who holds a full-time job, will also be supported and assisted by his wife, Claritza, a retired SDA schoolteacher who is an evangelist in her own right.

The Karrys have attended the Fallon church for over 30 years and are known and loved by the congregation.

Church member Moriah Ward said, “Even before being selected as VLP, he stepped up to lead the church and has not only made evangelism to our neighbors a priority but has helped to encourage fellowship among the church members.”

Within the NUC territory, there are many more churches that we will be working with to introduce and implement VLPs. The VLP director also works closely with NUC Director of Church Planting Ministry Pedro Pozo; together they will lead as directed by God through much prayer in order to ensure that the right people are put in the right places. The vision is that, as each new church plant forms, the appropriate VLP will be assigned to lead.

If you have a desire to serve as a VLP or simply want to learn more about the VLP Ministry of the NUC, please contact: dwashington@ nevadautah.org.

Nevada-Utah Conference Teachers and staff of the new Vegas Valley Adventist Academy (from left to right) Eucaris Galicia, administrative assistant; Dacyl Galicia Silveira, teacher; Rosario Olmeda-Barba, treasurer; Samuel Blot, teacher; Denice Raphael, principal; Anissa Johnson, teacher; Stephanie Woodson, teacher; and Karla Rojo, secretary.

Vegas Valley Adventist Academy

By Fernando Lista Oleynick

I

n this divisive world filled with uncertainty, the Nevada-Utah Conference (NUC) found an opportunity for reconciliation and unification by combining two schools in Las Vegas, Nevada: Abundant Life Christian Academy and Las Vegas Junior Academy.

“We had to listen to and understand the grievances and hurt of the past that had created a divisive culture in the Las Vegas area,” said NUC President Leon Brown. A reconciliation committee was formed to really listen to the hurt caused by racial injustice.

As Sherri Hannon, the reconciliation committee leader, explained, “The committee is composed of representatives from both schools. We have conducted a survey of church members in the Las Vegas area, seeking feedback about the schools and suggestions for change. We are also interviewing people, including parents and students, who have attended one or both schools and are willing to share their experiences.

Several themes have been identified from the surveys and interviews. The committee is working on suggested guidelines and recommendations to address these recurring issues and will present them in a report to the K-12 board and the new school board in the near future.”

In addition, as NUC Executive

Secretary Carlos Camacho said, “There is no longer room for a culture of division.” All churches in the Las Vegas area are being asked to support Vegas Valley Adventist Academy with a financial subsidy. Pastors and teachers are being asked to partner together in ministry, both at the churches and the schools.

NUC Education Superintendent Fernando Lista holds a vision of unification and growth: “Our desire is not just to join two schools, but to provide excellent Adventist education for the children who attend, and eventually to be able to provide a K-12 education program.” The hope for the future is to have web-based classes that can be offered to rural churches in the Nevada-Utah territory. “We have a vast mission field. What if a local church does not have the financial resources to open a physical school for four or five kids but has the ability to provide supervision as children learn from certified teachers over the internet?” asked Karen Schneider, NUC treasurer.

God’s leading has been very evident in this endeavor. Denice Raphael, the new principal for Vegas Valley Adventist Academy, said, “Our goal for our students at VVAA during the 2020-21 school year is to achieve greatness academically and develop socially and emotionally as they learn to be productive citizens for the community around us. Our ultimate goal is for each student to have a strong relationship with Christ, letting Him guide them in their daily lives.”

Their plea is for you to act today.

Pray for the teachers as they reopen their classrooms, both in person and using web-based tools. Pray that the parents will recognize the tremendous value in Adventist education for their children. Pray for the students to have a safe learning environment that will enhance their walk with Jesus Christ. Pray for the support staff as they struggle with a workload that never seems to decrease. Pray for the financial resources to be available.

Pray for a way you can get involved to glorify and bring honor to God. S E P T E M B E R 2020

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PHOTO: JONNY HAYASAKA

Northern California Conference

PHOTO: SAMUEL D’AUTRUCHE

While sheltering together for six weeks, the Summer on the Run team produces 15 fun and inspiring videos for kids.

NCC Summer Ministries Make an Impact

By Julie Lorenz and Laurie Trujillo

Northern California Conference summer ministries looked very different this year, but the Holy Spirit continued to use them to touch hearts and impact lives.

Summer on the Run Beginning in the summer of 2018, the Summer on the Run team has taken its mobile day camp program to a number of churches and Redwood Camp Meeting, but this year they faced a whole new challenge. “Our mission was to provide the best camp experience we could from a distance and to broadcast the fun, energy, and excitement that we would bring in person,” said team member Samuel D’Autruche, Pacific Union College senior.

The group created 15 videos and released three per week on their Facebook page and YouTube channel, “Summer on the Run.” The videos feature the best parts of day camp—music, crafts, nature, skits, and spiritual lessons. Each episode has a theme such as bullying, anxiety, or equality. By early August, the Summer on the Run videos had been viewed more than 1,300 times.

Youth Director Eddie Heinrich and

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the team created the videos over the course of six weeks while they sheltered in place together at Chico Oaks Adventist School and the Chico church. The group included nine high school and college students, as well as Heinrich's wife, Tammy; Lodi Academy chaplain and Bible teacher Janeen Little; and several family members.

Although they didn’t have previous experience producing videos, the team quickly learned new skills as they wrote scripts, built sets, filmed, and edited. “When they realized we couldn’t do the ministry we’d been planning, they wouldn’t give up,” said Heinrich. “You couldn’t ask for a better group of young people.”

Redwood Camp Meeting While they missed gathering under the trees by the Eel River, many longtime Redwood campers received a blessing from virtual Redwood Camp Meeting.

The 44 videos on the YouTube channel, “Redwood Area Campmeeting,” were viewed 4,000 times during the first weekend they were posted. “The videos gave people a way to feel that they were still part of the Redwood family,” said Harry Salvini, Redwood Area Camp director. “People were so grateful for the connection. We received emotional calls, emails, and messages on Facebook.”

Arcata McKinleyville church member Betty Newman summed up the feelings of many. “We missed everything about camp meeting,

Northern California Conference

Leoni Meadows Although Leoni Meadows was unable to host summer camp, staff members served the nearby community, made the camp more beautiful, and developed projects for the future.

Since May, Leoni has distributed 500 loaves of homemade bread, 200 homemade sweet rolls, and many boxes of fresh produce to the community of Grizzly Flats. The Leoni garden grew 1,000 squash plants and 2,700 feet of corn, which provided a huge crop to give away.

Financed by recent donations, staff members worked to get the property ready for future conferences, retreats, and camps. They repainted the barn, built new concrete steps at the craft building, restored the stairwell on the Meadow View Inn, and reassembled the horse pens at the barn. They built and installed seating for 400 at the

PHOTOS: CRAIG HEINRICH

but we surely appreciated the virtual camp meeting!” she wrote.

Created specifically for Redwood, the videos include sermons from Faith For Today Speaker/Director Roy Ice, NCC President Marc Woodson, Pacific Union Conference President Ricardo Graham, Pacific Union College church Senior Pastor Chanda Nunes, Oakland Spanish church Pastor Luis Manrique (in Spanish), and a number of others.

Other highlights include a cooking demonstration, music from the Pacific Union College worship team, nature talks, kids’ programs, and more. “We were blown away by the response as almost every division and speaker we asked created a video,” said Salvini.

He and Montell Snyder, head of Redwood communications, each worked for more than 100 hours to edit and post the videos. “Although we had moments of frustration, it was a lot of fun,” said Salvini.

Check out the new Redwood Camp Meeting website: redwoodareacamp.com.

Morrisonville venue, so campers won’t need to sit on hay bales. As part of a wildfire mitigation plan, staff mowed the meadow and cleared 100 acres of dead trees and brush. In addition, the camp re-erected the 85-foot Baltic Peak fire tower. Originally built in 1931, the tower now stands on a hill above the Leoni House and offers incredible views of the camp property.

Although some family groups stayed in the cabins and campground this summer, Leoni has been a much quieter place than usual. Staff members are eager for the day when they can once again help guests have life-changing experiences. “We are lonesome up here,” said Executive Director Craig Heinrich. “This fall or next spring we look forward to getting back to business.”

Leoni’s business is transforming lives for Christ. “I attended Leoni Meadows summer camp, and it completely changed my life,” a teenager wrote in an NCC scholarship application. “I walked away with an amazing experience and a longawaited personal encounter with Jesus. I decided to give my life to the Lord and was baptized.”

Vacation Bible School Thanks to dedicated members of the Oroville church, 140 children in their community enjoyed Vacation Bible School at home. Volunteers packed supplies into VBS bags, each containing five days of Bible lessons, craft materials, games, snacks, prizes, activity sheets, and more. The contents were tailored for separate age groups, and each older child received a Bible.

Summer projects at Leoni Meadows include growing an enormous garden, painting the barn, and many more.

Parents picked up the VBS bags during several drive-through events.

“Most cars had kids sitting in the back seat waving and telling us how they wished we could have VBS this year and thanking us for the bags,” said Kathy Spiva, one of the leaders.

Families watched the song service and opening exercises on a YouTube video prepared by the church.

Each year, about 95 percent of the children who attend the church’s VBS come from the surrounding community. “I really feel that the Lord blessed our efforts and gave us a way to stay in contact with our VBS family here in our city,” said Spiva. “It just proves to us that God can use us even in ways that are different from our normal way. He still wants us to get the message out to all His children.”

The Oroville church continues its 48-year Vacation Bible School tradition with online singing and take-home VBS bags.

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Northern California Conference Church members participate in a march and rally for peace and justice in Oakland. (Below, far left) Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant and founder/ CEO of the Oscar Grant Foundation, speaks during the rally.

I

PHOTOS: KEVIN JEFFREY

n mid-July, Northern California Conference churches, The Veg Hub ministry, and the NCC Urban Ministries Department held a Peace and Justice March in Oakland. Nearly 200 people—wearing masks and matching shirts—walked more than a mile from the Grand Advent church to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater for a rally. Participants came from the Elmhurst, Grand Advent, Immanuel Temple, Market Street, Oakland Spanish, and San Leandro Spanish churches, as well as the community.

The idea for the event was sparked

by Moises Ramirez, a Grand Advent church local-hire pastor. “I am not an activist; I am a follower of Christ,” he said. “However, to be a follower of Christ means to call out hypocrisy, injustices, oppression, and to stand up for and with our brothers and sisters who are hurting. We are God’s vessels, and when He calls us to stand up, we must stand.”

The previous week, church members distributed 600 fliers in the

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NCC Members March for Peace and Justice

By Julie Lorenz

area, inviting others to participate.

The Veg Hub restaurant advertised the march on Facebook as “a stroller friendly, kid-friendly, wheelchair friendly, slow-walking protest for the entire community.” Notified in advance, the police department provided support, blocking off intersections for the marchers.

During the program in the amphitheater, African American Ministries Coordinator/Urban Ministries Director Willie Johnson introduced guest speaker Wanda Johnson, founder and CEO of the Oscar Grant Foundation, whose son was killed more than a decade ago.

Others in the program included President Marc Woodson, Executive Secretary Jose Marin, Veg Hub Ministry Director G. W. Chew, as well as pastors and church members.

During his remarks, Woodson described how Adventists have been involved in social justice from the church’s earliest days, including the

first General Conference president, who operated a station on the Underground Railroad.

The majority of those involved in the event were young people. “We are continuing the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and those who have gone before us, giving hope to the younger generation,” said Willie Johnson. “It was almost like a passing of the baton, a moment of empowerment. It meant a lot to the young adults for the conference administrators and pastors to come alongside them.”

Woodson appreciates the unity and faithfulness of the Oakland and San Leandro churches as they work in their neighborhoods. “When we talk about engaging our community with compassion, we often think of relief efforts or evangelism,” he said. “But the Bible tells us that we must act justly as well as love mercy. Speaking against injustice is also an act of compassion for our community.”

Northern California Conference

Membership Assistance Fund Helps 250 Families

By NCC Communication and Development Department

A

s of Aug. 3, the Northern California Conference Membership Assistance Fund has helped 250 families in 31 churches. The fund has distributed $25,000 of the $40,905 raised—fulfilling 100 percent of the requests it has received so far.

In response to the ongoing financial difficulty faced by many members, the NCC administrative team established the fund in May. “We want to help our brothers and sisters in Christ as much as we can during this time,” said President Marc Woodson.

“We cannot remove their burden, but we can come alongside and help them carry it.”

The original goal was to raise $20,000 in order to assist 200 NCC family households with up to $100 each. “God blessed this endeavor, and the goal was achieved in just over two months,” said Woodson. “Now, because of a $20,000 matching gift, the initiative has funded 100 percent of the requests, with some left over to help even more families in need.”

The donations have helped 250 families (approximately 680

individuals), including a widowed mother with three children who can’t work enough due to childcare issues and a couple struggling to pay the bills because of a job loss.

A number of recipients have expressed their appreciation. “The gift helped us keep our home,” wrote one church member. “[The gift is] a very sweet blessing from Jesus and the brothers and sisters in our church family who helped make that possible.”

Another church member wrote: “Give all praise to my Lord and Savior for the blessing I received— that I was able to use toward gas and grocery items.”

Director of Communication and Development Laurie Trujillo is thankful for the many compassionate donors who felt blessed by the opportunity to help others in a

“In the providence of God events have been so ordered... that there may be a constant exercise in the human heart of the attributes of mercy and love. [People are] to cultivate the tenderness and compassion of Christ.”

Ellen G. White, The Signs of the Times, June 13, 1892

practical way. “Raising funds is a humbling experience because I am surrounded by compassion,” she said. “The compassionate givers are uncomfortable with another person struggling, and they feel compelled to respond. They are like the good Samaritan who saved a stranger’s life.”

Trujillo and Woodson appreciate the efforts of the local pastors who submitted the requests and the employees at NCC headquarters who worked to ensure that people received the money in a timely manner. Jose Marin, executive secretary; Kim Boutté, executive administrative assistant; and Allan Willmott, associate treasurer, funded 100 percent of the requests in less than two months.

“Our employees and church members don’t just talk about love—they live it,” said Woodson. “I am reminded of Jesus’ words, ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’” (John 13:35, NIV).

Find out what's happening in the Northern California Conference by subscribing to the NCC’s weekly news source, “Northern Lights,” at nccsda.com.

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Pacific Union College

PUC Nursing Student Serves His Community on Pandemic Frontlines

By Dana Negro

A

s schools around the country began to shut down earlier this year, the Pacific Union College campus was heading into finals week and faced what felt like insurmountable difficulties.

But the beloved College on the Mountain rose to the occasion and met each challenge headon. While staff members worked together to find creative ways to continue serving from their living rooms, kitchens, and home offices, faculty quickly offered their finals online and began the process of transitioning their spring quarter courses for remote learning.

As education began to take on a whole new look, PUC students set up their remote classrooms and found ways to study and socialize utilizing technology.

However, some went beyond merely adjusting to the new normal. It is incredibly moving to see how many individuals used this time of crisis to positively impact others.

One of these remarkable students is Ralph Edward Valdez, who recently transferred to PUC from Napa Valley College and will be starting his second quarter of the nursing program this coming fall. While growing up, Valdez wanted to go to medical school and eventually become a

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pediatric oncologist. It wasn’t until the end of his senior year in high school that Valdez heard his mentor talk about her son’s battle with cancer and the positive experience she’d had with his nurses, who were a continual beacon of hope for her and her family. It was then he realized that he wanted to offer that strength

and positivity to others during their time of need.

When PUC closed its campus and switched to remote learning in March, Valdez returned to his home in Napa. He realized he wouldn’t have his regular nursing labs or clinicals, so he applied for the Medical Reserve Corps.

After he received the necessary training, Valdez was assigned to work as a nurse at a COVID-19 testing site in Napa. “Truthfully, I did not expect to be working on the frontlines. I just happened to be watching the local news when the reporters were talking about the opportunity to work with the Health Corps in California. I immediately expressed my interest and filled out the necessary forms.

I thought I would get called to work at a local hospital or clinic doing simple tasks like taking general vitals and working with Registered Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants,” said Valdez.

“I was offered an assignment to work at Napa’s new COVID-19 drive-through testing site. I was a little apprehensive, but during

“I was able to successfully explain the process to the Spanish-speaking patients. More importantly, I was able to keep the patients from panicking and feeling overwhelmed with their situation.”

Pacific Union College

our first meeting I was reassured as we established the process for testing, making sure to cross our t’s and dot our i’s.”

Each day after checking in, logging their temperatures, scrubbing up, and donning their personal protection equipment (PPE), the team heads out to prep their stations and begin to see patients. Working in twoperson teams, they perform nasal swabs and safely package the samples. “Most of the time I’m the one assisting, but I occasionally get to perform the swabs myself. Our site tests on average about 350 to 400 people a day, with my shift typically completing 200+ of those tests.”

Early in his volunteering, Valdez found himself in a situation he never expected. “One day, none of the staff could speak Spanish, so I told them I would handle translations,” Valdez said.

Having just completed Spanish for Health Care Professionals the previous quarter, at the advice of PUC’s pre-nursing advisor Lorie Johns, he felt confident in taking on this role. “I was able to successfully explain the process to the Spanish-speaking patients.

More importantly, I was able to keep the patients from panicking and feeling overwhelmed with their situation.”

Valdez took Spanish courses in elementary and high school; however, it wasn’t until his experience at the testing site that he fully understood the importance of being multilingual, especially in the healthcare profession. He credits Professor Sylvia Gregorutti and her Spanish for Health Care

Professionals course with making him better equipped for his future career of providing excellent healthcare and the respect and compassion he believes all patients deserve. “I can only imagine what it would be like to go and have an invasive test done, all the while with no one being able to explain the process. It would be a scary experience. The importance

of being bilingual and able to ease people’s potential fears was definitely the most valuable lesson I’ve learned so far.”

During these uncertain times, PUC is thankful and blessed to have students like Valdez, with his desire to learn and his commitment to serve, as part of our Pioneers family.

To learn more about opportunities at PUC, visit puc.edu.

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Southeastern California Conference

SECC Educators and Students

Begin School Year with Resilience and Faith

By Tricia Murdoch Zmaj

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he first day of school looked very different this year. While educators in Southeastern California Conference (SECC) schools were in their classrooms, their students started their new grades interacting with their teachers and peers through computer screens.

Susie Oliva, teaching principal of the K-8 Victor Valley school, is a veteran teacher of 15 years. “In some ways it feels like the first year of teaching again,” she said. “The new technology has given me an opportunity to reach students in helpful ways.”

Recently, Oliva took part in training offered by the Office of Education to teach principals to use Swivl. The Office of Education also offered teachers three days of training on digital instructional methods and student engagement when they reported to work for the new school year.

“The Swivl system allows the teacher to move around the classroom as they normally would, and the camera will follow them where they go,” said Amy Cornwall, SECC director of instructional coaching. “Teachers can use hands-on instruction while allowing the students at home to see and interact with the teacher and their classmates.”

SECC teachers are mindful that remote education is not merely technically challenging. “The two greatest challenges teachers will experience this year are helping parents feel supported and creating meaningful connections with students,” said Ketita Boren, first grade teacher at Mesa Grande

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Victor Valley teachers and students take part in a Zoom Bible study on the final day of last school year.

Academy. Boren is providing her class parents with a detailed guide to an organized learning environment at home. She also recently sent out student questionnaires so that she can prepare teaching strategies and activities designed for her students.

Even through remote education, SECC schools offer a unique experience. “Adventist education continues to help students reach their highest potential while recognizing that true education aligns the students’ spiritual, mental, and physical development with God’s ideal for mankind,” said Boren.

Oliva regularly hears from parents

who appreciate the family feeling of their Adventist school despite the additional workload that current circumstances require. When the students began learning remotely last spring, Oliva and teacher Carley Holm continued their daily worships, in which students and teachers met for prayer and Bible study via Zoom.

Oliva has a screen capture from the final Bible study of last school year. In the picture, students sit at various kitchen tables, by living room desks, and in front of bedroom walls.

Though their school experiences look very different, each student wears a beaming smile.

Southeastern California Conference

Prayer Vigil Unites Church Communities

By Suzanne Ocsai

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(Left) Bryant Taylor, worship and media pastor at Azure Hills church, challenges the audience to act justly to all people, not just the people they know. (Below) Attendees lift their phones during the song “This Little Light of Mine” in solidarity to shine the light on injustice.

PHOTOS: ENNO MÜLLER

rriving early at the San Bernardino Community church for the Prayer Vigil for Unity and Racial Injustice on Saturday, June 27, Bryant Taylor, worship and media pastor at Azure Hills church, noted that everyone was especially quiet. Even as more of the nearly 100 attendees arrived, there was still a noticeable silence.

As he looked out on the crowd that was forming, he saw a seriousness and sadness in their eyes.

On June 12, following the murder of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, the North American Division published a press release asking all members to observe a special day of prayer on the last Sabbath in June.

Tara VinCross, senior pastor of the Azure Hills church, reached out to Jerrold Thompson, pastor at the San Bernardino Community church, with the idea of holding a joint prayer vigil.

“It’s our responsibility as a church to step up and to respond directly,” said Jessie Lopez, young adult pastor at Azure Hills church, who helped plan the event. “It is a reflection of who God is to stand up and speak against oppression, to speak against any form of injustice.”

The two churches planned to equally share each aspect of the programming, alternating between members of San Bernardino Community and Azure Hills churches for prayers, spoken word

performances, special music, calls to action, and prayers of action.

After a welcome, VinCross led attendees in a moment of silence that lasted exactly eight minutes and 46 seconds—the same amount of time Floyd was pinned beneath the officer’s knee before he died. This was followed by prayers of repentance that led into the rest of the programing.

As the vigil came to a close, Thompson and Taylor led calls to action.

“This is not a political fight,” Thompson said during the vigil.

“When you politicize it, then you demonize it. Our call to action is for us to be more like Jesus. Let’s not politicize this but make sure this is biblical.”

Taylor challenged the non-Black attendees to not simply stand up for

the persons of color they know and respect but to stand up for all persons of color.

“Every white person has someone that they know that’s Black that they would step in and do something for,” Taylor said. “But I didn’t want them to do it for that reason. I wanted them to do it because it was wrong.”

Following the vigil, both churches committed to continuing their partnership, and they hope other churches will seek similar relationships with sister churches.

“I just want people to be inspired to pick up the phone and call their Black pastor down the street, or the Black pastor call the white pastor down the street or another ethnicity, and do something for their community together,” said Thompson.

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Southeastern California Conference

The leadership team records videos of favorite camp songs, crafts, activities, and more. All of these activities are posted on psrathome.org for virtual camp attendees.

SECC Camp,

VBS Offered Virtually

By Suzanne Ocsai

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ine Springs Ranch summer camp and Vacation Bible School (VBS) are summer staples for kids, teens, and the young adults who help staff both. A summer without one of these wouldn’t quite be summer.

So, when COVID-19 claimed summer plans, conference staff and local church leaders decided to reimagine what both programs could look like in the midst of social distancing restrictions during quarantine.

While camp had to be canceled, that didn’t mean that some camp favorites couldn’t still be offered virtually. Carmen Ibanez, Pine Springs Ranch executive director, received special permission to host the PSR leadership team at the camp for one weekend to help her record and prepare videos featuring camp games, crafts, songs, activities, and snacks that campers could watch at home. All the videos were then posted online at psrathome.org.

For VBS, SECC leaders offered churches two virtual options. One was a one-week, online VBS program called Heroes, created by the North

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American Division, and the other was a semi-customizable program from the conference called Rocky Railway: Jesus’ Power Pulls Us Through.

Because so many summer activities had to be canceled this year, pastors decided that instead of offering the customizable VBS for just one week, they would spread the five-day programming over five weeks. While this created much more work for the pastors, they wanted to provide more fun opportunities to families with limited options.

“It’s nice for one week,” said Manny Vitug, associate youth director for family and children’s ministry, “but

the kids are going to be home for the entire summer with nothing to do—some of them even go from one church to the next, visiting different VBS programs.”

The VBS began on June 29 and ran until July 31. Each day of the original week-long program would be stretched across a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule, with its own unique theme created

by SECC. There was Move It Monday, which focused on being healthy, Wisdom Wednesday, which focused on nature and Bible nuggets, and Family Friday, which focused on bringing families together to positively and

Southeastern California Conference safely impact their neighborhoods.

Leaders worked hard to help attendees have an experience that was as interactive as possible because so much of what kids were being offered was already online, from school to church to spending time with extended family. The conference VBS leadership team, consisting of conference leaders and family and children’s pastors, recorded about 15-minutes of content.

Churches could then add their own introductions, songs, or other unique elements, creating 45 to 60 minutes of total content per episode.

Churches also prepared take-home VBS activity bags for registrants that could be picked up weekly. These pick-up times provided families an opportunity to safely interact in-person with other members of their church community.

But it was not just local families who signed on to view the SECC VBS. While churches saw from 30 to upwards of 80 homes register for the virtual VBS, the number of views far surpassed that for many of the broadcasts. Churches also saw registrations from families whose conferences had decided to not hold VBS programs at all or from members who had moved away but still wanted

La Sierra University church VBS attendees pose next to a train.

The VBS challenge was to submit a picture next to a train. Events like this one provide a fun and interactive way to help families get outside in a safe and socially distanced way. to connect with their previous congregations.

To ensure that as many homes as possible could participate in the VBS, churches relied on multiple online streaming platforms. San Bernardino 16th Street church decided to use Facebook Live, Zoom, and YouTube Live to broadcast their VBS to church members in order to reduce any limitations for those who wanted access, while La Sierra University church used Rio to simultaneously stream to Facebook Live and YouTube Live for their viewers.

Leaders found unique ways to help kids interact with the programming.

A couple weeks into the VBS, when kids had learned the songs, Grace Ko, VBS leader at the Loma Linda Korean church, switched from the music videos to the audio tracks and started coupling that with the Zoom spotlight feature. This allowed participants to

be highlighted during the song time, virtually mimicking attendees being invited to help lead out on stage during traditional VBS weeks.

“They love that,” said Ko. “They love getting spotlighted and all of us seeing them try that much harder.”

While pastors and leaders faced many challenges this summer in planning and preparing both summer camp and VBS programming, in the end it served to further demonstrate how much they could accomplish together despite the odds.

“Nobody has been through a pandemic, so everyone is figuring it out, and yet we all got together and said we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it well,” said Beverly Maravilla, children’s pastor at La Sierra University church. “And that mattered, and that’s been such a beautiful picture of unity. I’m really proud of our conference.”

(Left) Naomi Piro, VBS leader at ALSAD church, leads a song. Many churches created their own music videos to go along with the VBS programming. Though many challenges existed for churches this year, Piro was thankful for the support she received. “Support from the conference, our pastor, our community, and key leaders in our VBS team was more than what I could have imagined. We can still be united in God’s work from a distance.” (Right) Manny Vitug, associate youth director for family and children’s ministry, films his segment at the San Bernardino Train depot. During his time there, some passengers asked him for help and direction, thinking he was an official conductor.

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Southern California Conference

SCC Hosts Conference-wide

Virtual Week of Encouragement

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By Lauren Lacson

020 has been unlike anything anyone expected. Loved ones have fallen ill, jobs have been lost, and injustices have escalated. We have all had to adjust to an ever-changing reality, and for many, mental and spiritual health are suffering. It’s no secret that we could all use some encouragement.

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Emil Peeler, pastor of the Capitol Hill church, opens the week with a message about trusting God.

Adventist Community Services, spoke on the importance of community outreach and the role of the church in accomplishing God’s redemptive purposes.

Members and employees of SCC also shared inspiring testimonies each night. Angel Nair, San Gabriel Academy Elementary principal, recalled a friend she had met only once who reached out to her during quarantine about her newfound interest in the Bible. “We’ve been able to have phone Bible studies for the past several months,” Nair said.

The programs were followed by a virtual

Zoom prayer room, where attendees could call in for special prayer with the SCC prayer team. The prayer room was a powerful part of the program in which attendees could further their experience and seek a deeper blessing. “Our first experience with a SCC Zoom Prayer Room revealed to us that the Holy Spirit is not put off by technology,” said Janet Lui, SCC prayer ministry leader. “As we joined together in breakout prayer rooms or collectively in our virtual prayer chapel, we sensed that God was near.

He was listening, encouraging hearts, and replacing fear with faith. We still serve a miracle-working God. He is only a prayer away.”

Ron Park, pastor at the Van Nuys church, and his wife, Gabriela, share a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace on night five.

Watch the messages at https://www.youtube.com/sccadventists or https://www.facebook.com/sccadventists.

PHOTO: YOUTUBE @SCCADVENTISTS

With this in mind, the Southern California Conference (SCC) executive leadership met this summer to plan a first-ever conference-wide digital event: a week of encouragement.

“By interacting with pastors and members, we the officers became aware of the eagerness of members to return to worship in person because they were having anxiety and experiencing loneliness,” said Velino A. Salazar, SCC president.

“Others were experiencing depression and spiritual coldness.”

Elder James G. Lee, SCC executive vice president, recalled a similar online revival event held by another conference, and the idea was born.

The event took place every evening August 1-8 on YouTube and Facebook Live. Four speakers delivered powerful messages of encouragement throughout the week. Emil Peeler, pastor of the Capitol Hill church, delivered the first and last messages, focusing on the availability of God and the wonder of prayer. Keith Jacobson, pastor of the Carmichael church, shared messages highlighting God’s command “do not fear.” Roger Hernandez, ministerial director of the Southern Union, shared uplifting, practical messages on the value of proper mental health practices for leaders in ministry.

Sung Kwon, executive director of

Southern California Conference

Eustace and Taylor Laurie

Ordained to the Gospel Ministry Together

By Araya Moss

Pastor Chris Famisaran (right) shares words of blessing and guidance for Eustace, Taylor, and Daniel. inkling that I would take this path,” Eustace recalled. “I thank them for not saying anything when I was younger; they let me wrestle with God on my own in this decision and life choice to follow Him.” During the ordination ceremony, the Lauries were presented with gifts to commemorate this special day.

John H. Cress, Southern California Conference (SCC) executive secretary, presented them both with their new credentials and Andrews Study Bibles. Greg Hoenes, SCC West Region director, presented Eustace with a shepherd’s rod, a symbol of Christ’s shepherding ministry. He also gifted scented anointing oils and a communion kit.

In his homily, SCC President Velino A. Salazar spoke of the ministry of Aquila and Priscilla in Acts. “You, as a

PHOTOS: CANOGA PARK CHURCH YOUTUBE CHANNEL

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hile couples working together in ministry is a common practice, it is not often that such a couple has the chance to be ordained to the gospel ministry together. This summer, Eustace A. Laurie III and Taylor M. Trent Laurie were granted the opportunity to have a double ordination service and to dedicate their son, Daniel, on the same day in a virtual ceremony.

Eustace and Taylor serve in different but complementary ministries. Eustace is the senior pastor at Canoga Park Community church, and Taylor is the director of mission and spiritual care at Adventist Health Simi Valley. In their respective callings, both share a passion for serving God and others.

From the time of her childhood, Taylor always had an interest in healthcare and theology. She worked for a time as a pastor. Soon after, with the guidance and support of her parents, particularly a dad who saw this day coming long before she did; mentors willing to take her under their wings; and a God who provided her with reassurance, she began her journey into clinical chaplaincy.

“Today is not merely a culmination of life achievements, but rather an affirmation and recognition of my calling,” said Taylor. “It is an honor to be recognized by the church that I love.”

Eustace, too, was blessed by the support of his parents throughout his journey. “My parents had an

couple, have been called to ministry,” said Salazar. “I am convinced that you will continue to be a blessing wherever you go, to expand the work of Jesus Christ.”

In his ministerial charge, James G. Lee, SCC executive vice president, reminded the couple that “with great honor comes great responsibility.”

Elder Sam Leonor, administrative director, Adventist Health, shared about the fruits of Taylor’s ministry.

“Every day, Taylor steps into a place where there’s fear, anxiety, stress, confusion, pain, and sorrow,” Leonor said. “She ministers—in the name of Jesus—peace, comfort, and consolation.”

“I’m thankful that we’re able to experience this day despite COVID-19 social distancing conditions,” said Eustace, “that we are still able to experience the joy of this day online.”

Technology closed the distance as colleagues near and far participated in the laying on of hands virtually.

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Southern California Conference

Women Driven by Service

Prove COVID-19 Can’t Stop Love

By Araya Moss

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(Left to right) Butler, Moss, Glory, and Loritha take a photo before heading out to pass out lunches to homeless communities in Oxnard.

from encampment to encampment.

Williams served as the navigator.

“My inspiration actually came from praying mid-way through the COVID-19 pandemic that God would reveal to me something I could participate in,” said Moss. “Then, along came Sali.”

When the group was down to the last four bags in Hollywood, they pulled up to a street and saw three people sitting together on the ground and a fourth person about 100 feet away. Butler went to give a bag to the lady at the other end of the street.

“As I walked toward her, I just began calling out, ‘Sister, sister, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all day; I have your lunch,’” said Butler.

“The lady looked all around her and then back into my eyes and said, ‘You lookin’ for me? Somebody’s looking for me?’ As I handed her the bag, she said, ‘Thank you, sister. Thank you for looking for me.’”

The following weekend, Butler and Moss were joined by Loritha McDuffie, and her daughter, Glory, members of Ventura church, to hand

PHOTOS: STACY MOSS

ore than 30 years ago, Sali Butler, a member of Valley Crossroads church, often joined friend June Williams, a member of Altadena church, and Williams’ two young sons on Sabbath afternoons to feed those facing homelessness in MacArthur park, Mid-Wilshire, and other Los Angeles neighborhoods.

After having a conversation with Irma Woods, a member of University church, about what they could do on Sabbath during this pandemic aside from joining online worship services, Butler was reminded of that ministry and came up with a plan.

Butler sent a request to friends and church family who might be interested in serving local homeless communities. “The need to do something is probably there for all of us,” Butler said, “however, most of the time we are waiting for someone to get something started.”

Those who could not go out donated cases of water, snacks, food containers, condiments, ziplock and grocery bags, plastic cutlery, and money to help with anything else needed. Butler’s dentist even donated masks and gloves that were included as PPE packages to go with the lunches.

By the next weekend, Butler, Woods, Williams, and Stacy Moss, a member of Valley Crossroads church, set off for Hollywood. Coming from different cities—Redlands, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, and Pasadena—together they caravanned

Sandwiches are assembled with cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and packaged mustard and mayonnaise. out lunches in Oxnard. Each person brought different items to pack in the bags that included veggie sandwiches, a fruit cup or sliced watermelon, a bag of chips, trail mix, PPE, and bottled water. In addition to handing out meals, they also shared GLOW tracts and copies of Steps to Christ, talked and listened with some, and prayed with others.

Butler plans to continue serving as often as God allows, welcoming anyone so moved to join her.

“Although we all belong to different churches,” Butler said, “this effort is one way to serve during the pandemic and let people know that COVID can’t stop love.”

Southern California Conference

SCC Churches Ramp Up Virtual Health Programs

By Lauren Lacson and Araya Moss

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uring a global pandemic like this one, staying healthy is on everyone’s mind. Poor nutrition and unhealthy habits are even more dangerous than they’ve been in the past, with factors like diabetes and obesity increasing one’s risk for negative outcomes from COVID-19. There’s no better time to focus on what it means to be healthy—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

PHOTOS: PARAMOUNT SPANISH FACEBOOK LIVE

Our SCC churches know this all too well. That’s why, during the past few months, many of our churches have hosted virtual health lectures, cooking demonstrations, and more.

While health ministry is deeply needed, it can’t continue like it once was. But that wasn’t a problem for the South Bay church. This church has always been active in health ministry, and the coronavirus wasn’t going to slow them down. Their Back to Basics program on Tuesdays has continued, just in a different format: now via Zoom. “We have been focusing largely for the last couple months on the amazing immune-boosting qualities of the NEWSTART program,” said John Jenson, pastor at the South Bay church. “It’s amazing.” They’ve since moved on to a study of the book How Not to Diet by Michael Gregor.

Educating and empowering

the community is key. Community outreach has always been a priority for the Community Adventist Fellowship (CAF) church, and they haven’t stopped building community relationships in this virtual context. They’ve hosted virtual cooking classes with more than 60 attendees, many not from the church. “It was just amazing,” Marcy Rood, first elder at CAF, said of the July event. “Because of the cooking demo, people are asking for the recipe. That gives us the opportunity to reach out to those people.” The church also hosts a virtual health ministry program every Thursday, where different doctors speak.

Valley Crossroads church, too, has an ongoing cooking class every Wednesday at noon, which started during the pandemic. “I was looking for activities for our members amid the pandemic,” said Karen Spence, communication director at Valley Josefina Montiel, Paramount Spanish church member, leads a cooking class, Desarolla el Arte de Cocinar, on Zoom and Facebook Live.

Crossroads church. “It was initially scheduled to run for only a few months, but due to its popularity, I decided to let it run its course, and this is still going strong, praise God!” In each class, former Valley Crossroads church member Sherma Dafflitt, a national board-certified health and wellness coach who now lives in New York, teaches attendees to create wholesome vegan and vegetarian dishes.

These aren’t the only SCC churches that have been pursuing virtual health ministry in these critical times. At Chino Valley Chinese, for example, a virtual family cooking camp every Monday is a way to bring kids together, teach healthy habits, and minister to the community all at the same time. Paramount Spanish church has used Facebook Live to reach a larger audience with their health lectures, educating the Spanishspeaking community with immuneboosting tips.

In times like these, more people are interested in proper nutrition and healthy habits than ever. As uncertainty and fear around health outcomes rise, these churches continue to connect with a need that goes beyond their local communities—offering education, encouragement, and, most of all, hope.

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Adventist Schools Adapt for New School Year

By Faith Hoyt, with contributions from Adventist educators in the Pacific Union

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hough the restrictions due to coronavirus have lasted longer than many anticipated, Adventist schools in the Pacific Southwest have adapted in order to continue providing quality education. Schools have prepared for a mix of both oncampus classes and virtual learning this school year and are addressing the needs of students for either option.

In Northern California, Rio Lindo Adventist Academy pivoted their recruitment procedures for new students. When faced with travel limitations and access to campus, Rio launched a "Virtual Visitation" section on their website to welcome prospective families and give a taste of campus life. The Virtual Visit includes a school tour video and a chance to schedule a live information session with the enrollment team. At the time this article was written, Rio planned on opening with in-person instruction, but they are ready to do distance learning if needed in light of COVID restrictions for schools.

"This moment in time is one of the most challenging seasons for many of our Adventist schools," says Rika Meyer, vice principal for marketing, enrollment, and development. "We have to be innovative and adaptable in the face of adversity, but this is also the time that we can find opportunities that we didn't even

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Students at the Ka Lama Iki campus of Hawaiian Mission Academy participate in STEM icebreakers with their class during their first day back to school on Aug. 3.

“We couldn't be prouder of our students for tackling this big day safely!” the school shared on social media.

know were there."

In Southeastern California, the local conference office of education equipped schools with a Swivl robot system that uses a tablet as a video camera. The Swivl robot senses an infrared marker that the teacher wears on a lanyard, and the robot “swivels” to follow the marker wherever it moves in the classroom.

Additionally, microphones for the instructor and throughout the classroom ensure that every student is heard. The Swivl system will allow

teachers to interact simultaneously with both in-class and off-campus students. Additionally, Swivl posts recorded lessons to an on-demand online database where students can review them later.

One of the schools to receive the Swivl robot system is La Sierra Academy. "We believe we can provide synchronous learning for our students who choose to remain home but still have an Adventist Christian education," shared Elizabeth Muñoz Beard, head

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principal of the academy.

At Loma Linda Academy, a summer of preparation for the school year has enabled the academy to offer students a hi-flex option.

“This will allow each family to choose either on-campus instruction or Loma Linda Academy designed, live full-day, distance education,” writes Doug Herrmann, LLA headmaster, on the school website.

“We are pursuing all possible angles to make this a reality.”

The back-to-school page on the LLA website covers guidelines for campus access, physical distancing, hygiene procedures, and distance learning in the event of another stayat-home order.

Adventist schools in Nevada and Utah have created reopening plans that follow Continued on page 60 S E P T E M B E R 2020

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drop-off and pick-up procedure for parents, as well as showing the safety precautions in place so that students can maintain social distance while participating in on-

campus learning.

“We’re ready,” said Sarah Traczyk, principal of Ka Lama Iki. “We’ve been prepping, and we are going to keep students safe.”

PHOTO: ENNO MÜLLER

local, state, and federal recommendations for in-person instruction, while also accommodating the option for remote instruction.

“The Nevada-Utah Conference has equipped most of the schools with the technology to broadcast classes live,” shared Fernando Lista, superintendent of education for the NUC. School reopening plans for NUC schools address the guidelines for such safety aspects as physical distancing, mask wearing, health screenings, and meals eaten on campus.

In Hawaii, schools opened for on-campus instruction on Monday, Aug. 3. In preparation for their opening, teachers at the Ka Lama Iki campus of Hawaiian Mission Academy filmed a back-to-school video demonstrating their new

La Sierra Academy is one of the schools to receive Swivl robot systems for their classrooms from the Southeastern California Conference Office of Education.

The Swivl system allows teachers to interact simultaneously with both in-class and off-campus students.

Advocacy Leads to Legislation: New California Regulation Protects Job Applicants

By Alan Reinach

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fter several years of advocacy by the Church State Council, the religious liberty ministry of the Pacific Union Conference, a regulation protecting job applicants was recently passed.

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While it has long been illegal to screen out job applicants because of their race or their religion, for example, questions about schedule availability have routinely been used to reject applicants who don’t work certain days on account of

their religion, especially Sabbath observers.

Effective July 1st, a new regulation went into effect in California that protects employees filling out job applications from disclosing scheduling restrictions based

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New California Regulation Protects Job Applicants

THE REGULATION DECLARES: Such inquiries must clearly communicate that an employee need not disclose any scheduling restrictions based on legally protected grounds, in language such as: “Other than time off for reasons related to your religion, a disability, or a medical condition, are there any days or times when you are unavailable to work?” or “Other than time off for reasons related to your religion, a disability, or a medical condition, are you available to work the proposed schedule?” on legally protected grounds. It codifies the law against just such discriminatory practices by requiring employers to place a notice, on the job application itself, that the applicant should not indicate if they are unavailable due to religion, medical condition, or disability.

Instead of having to check off that the applicant is unavailable, they can answer as though they are available to work. Only after a job is offered, and

the employer communicates the work schedule, will the employee need to seek a religious accommodation for Sabbath observance.

Those applying for jobs are urged to take note and send copies of any offending job applications to the Church State Council. The Council is committed to educating employers and enforcing the provisions of this regulation it fought so hard to enact. You can reach the Church

State Council by email: secretary@ churchstate.org; by phone: 805-4137396; or online at www.churchstate. org. The Council provides legal services to church members with Sabbath work conflicts—always at no cost to church members.

During such a time of economic distress, it is important to safeguard the opportunities of unemployed persons to be considered fairly when they apply for a job.

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A Pillar in the Pandemic—Adventist Health Continues to Live God’s Love

By Yara Enamorado

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ur calling as a faithbased organization is to live God’s love, to be His hands and feet. As the apostle John writes, “We love each other because he loved us first” (1 John 4:19, NLT). At Adventist Health, our value of “Be a force for good” leads us to take action in our community. We know God’s goodness and love, and in return we want to share that with others.

Throughout these months of global pandemic fear, anxiety, loss, and suffering, Adventist Health has had the opportunity to put into action our mission of living God’s love in the most unique and trying

of circumstances. It’s through God’s grace and mercy that we can testify to His work through us as a system.

Our hospitals serve thousands of patients every day. Continual safety measures remain a top priority, as is reminding and reassuring our community that our hospitals are safe and ready to serve them. But it doesn’t stop there. In addition to tirelessly caring for COVID-19 patients in California, Oregon, and Hawaii on the front lines of the pandemic, team members are going beyond the hospital walls to care for their communities.

In Southern California, for example, we are seeing daily

blessings as our hospitals are both receiving and giving an abundance of support.

In Simi Valley, Adventist Health donated thousands of masks and gloves to the 140+ postal carriers in the community. Additionally, Adventist Health repurposed donated foods to put together over 260 goody bags, which they gave to the three post offices in Simi Valley.

These essential frontline associates were thrilled and thankful for the support. Kathryn Stiles, director of community integration at Adventist Health Simi Valley, said, "We are blessed to live in a resilient and loving community. They have shown

Kathryn Stiles, community integration director for Adventist Health Simi Valley, donates masks and gloves to The Free Clinic.

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Adventist Health White Memorial delivers food to the community of Boyle Heights.

an outpouring of support for the hospital and our associates, and in turn, we have been able to support many of our community nonprofits and other essential associates who are doing heroic things every day."

In Glendale, Adventist Health is leading a virtual programming initiative to reach out to seniors who are among the most affected by this pandemic and quarantine. From the start, Melissa Varraveto, senior community outreach associate, and her team made more than 1,500 phone calls to seniors in the Glendale community to provide comfort, support, and hope. They also aim to launch a variety of virtual programs from fitness classes to diabetes workshops. This is alongside their long-standing partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, which will also offer virtual workshops.

To provide food security and wellness checks to the most vulnerable community members in

Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles— seniors, homeless, undocumented men and women, and their families—Adventist Health White Memorial joined USC Keck, WELA YMCA, and volunteers in making thousands of telephonic wellness assessments to identify those in need of food or suffering from mental stress during self-isolation. Within the first week of this enterprise, 250 seniors were provided with a week’s worth of food. Since then, more than 100,000 deliveries have been made.

All of these stories reflect our associates’ living our mission of love.

As Ellen White writes in Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, “It is not earthly rank, nor birth, nor nationality, nor religious privilege, which proves that we are members of the family of God; it is love, a love that embraces all humanity” (p. 75).

Throughout California, Adventist Health and its partners have distributed more than 2 million

pounds of food. We will continue to work and partner with organizations to bring relief and aid to those in need. Furthermore, as with the community, we are actively supporting our own associates and have disbursed over $855,000 in direct associate aid across our system.

The pandemic is not over.

Although the rates of positive cases and hospitalizations fluctuate, we still have some time to go. Adventist Health will not cease to care for and love its neighbors. Global Missions System Lead John Schroer said he is proud of the work the Lord has done through our system. “It is truly inspiring to see the love and support Adventist Health is pouring into the community during this pandemic.

We are committed now more than ever to respond to our communities’ needs and will continue to live God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness, and hope.”

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Adventist Education

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Pray for our Schools, Teachers, and Students For more than a century there have been Seventh-day Adventist schools here in the Pacific Southwest. Across many years and

generations, our vision has remained constant: for every learner to excel in faith, learning, and service, blending biblical truth

and academic achievement to honor God and bless others. The

leadership, faculty, and staff in our schools across the Pacific Union are working through the challenges of providing safe and effective instruction for their students—both online and onsite, depending on their local regulations and circumstances.

During these extraordinary times, our schools are all rededicated to the ideals of Christian Education articulated by Ellen G. White: “Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range.

There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come” (Education, p. 13).

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Adventist Education

10 Foundational Goals for Students

IN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST SCHOOLS ACCEPTANCE OF GOD

Surrender one’s whole life to God, develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in one’s life.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Develop a sense of self-worth, skills in interpersonal relationships, an understanding of the responsibilities of family membership, and the ability to respond with sensitivity to the needs of others.

HEALTHY BALANCED LIVING Accept personal responsibility for achieving and maintaining optimum physical, mental, and spiritual health.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS Recognize the importance of effective communication and develop the requisite skills.

AESTHETIC APPRECIATION Develop an appreciation of the beautiful, both in God’s creation and in human expression, while nurturing individual ability in the fine arts.

COMMITMENT TO THE CHURCH Desire to know, live, and share the message and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP Develop an understanding of cultural and historical heritages, affirm a belief in the dignity and worth of others, and accept responsibility for local, national, and global environments.

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT Adopt a systematic, logical, and biblically based approach to decision-making and problem-solving when applied to a developing body of knowledge.

PERSONAL MANAGEMENT Function responsibly in the everyday world using Christian principles of stewardship, economy, and personal management.

CAREER AND SERVICE Develop a Christian work ethic with an appreciation for the dignity of service.

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Community & Marketplace Advertising Advertising is accepted as a service to Seventh-day Adventist church members in the Pacific Union. The Recorder management reserves the right to refuse any advertisement, especially ads not related to the needs and practices of the church membership. Acceptance of any advertising shall be considered a matter of accommodation and not a matter of right, nor shall it be construed to constitute approval of the product or service advertised.

Payment in advance must accompany all classified advertisements or they will not be published. Display ads for known advertisers will be billed.

To pay by credit card, please go to recorder@adventistfaith.com.

How to Submit Advertising Classified ads must be sent with payment to the Recorder office. Display ads should be arranged with the editor (recorder@adventistfaith.com).

Classified Rates $70 for 50 words; 75 cents each additional word.

Display Rates (Full Color Only) Back cover, $4,200; full page, $3,800; 1/2-pg., $2,200; 1/4-pg., $1,200; 1/8-pg., $700; $160 per column inch.

Information The Pacific Union Recorder is published twelve times per year with a circulation of approximately 75,000.

For more information about advertising, please email to recorder@adventistfaith.com.

2020 Deadlines These are the advertising deadlines for the Recorder. Your local conference news deadlines will be earlier.

October: September 7 November: October 5

Contributions The Recorder pages are assigned to the local conferences, colleges, and health care institutions, and all content comes through the communication departments in those organizations. If you have a news story/idea, calendar announcement, etc., please contact your local communication department.

See the masthead for contact information. Want tips for writing for us? See www.dailywritingtips. com/the-art-of-writing-news.

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CALENDAR Central California Conference

Most events and outreaches that were canceled will be rescheduled or streamed online. As new information is available, updates will be noted on the Events page of the website. Just click on Events above the yellow banner. Visit us online at www.

CentralCaliforniaAdventist.com for all the updates.

Northern California Conference Redwood Camp Meeting 2020: Watch the recorded programs at www. redwoodareacamp.com.

Summer on the Run: The NCC Youth Department’s summer day camp program created a series of videos for kids: www.facebook.com/ summerontherunNCCyouth.

Get the news! Engage with the Northern California Conference by subscribing to the NCC’s weekly emailed news source, “Northern Lights.” Sign up: nccsda.com.

Southern California Conference

Tuesday T-Time 4 p.m. Every Tuesday, join SCC Senior Youth and Young Adult Director Iki Taimi as he sits down to chat about life and ministry with a different special guest each week. Available to watch on Facebook @onehousesocal and YouTube: www.youtube.com/ onehousesocal.

Wednesday Word 12 p.m.

On Wednesdays, log on to Instagram Live @onehousesocal for a midweek spiritual boost to get you through hump day.

Southeastern California Conference SECC Youth Leadership Convention (Sept. 18-19) Friday, 5-8:30 p.m.; Sabbath,

8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Join this year’s virtual convention. You will be able to explore, learn, and advance your leadership with various certification tracks.

This event is beneficial to Adventurer, Pathfinder, youth, and young adult leaders. To register: https://seccyouth. com. More info: 951-509-2265, youthevents@seccsda.org.

United4theCause 6th “Yet…I Still Have Joy” Annual Conference (Sept. 27) 7 a.m.-2 p.m. via Zoom. Speakers: Sandra Roberts, Lisa Newman, Candace Huber, and more. Stimulating health presentations on women’s health and breast cancer survivor support.

Must register: https://www. united4thecause.org/ourannual-retreat.html to receive login and password info.

fall quarter classes begin on September 14. For more information on PUC's fall campus plan, visit puc.edu/fall2020.

CLASSIFIED Country Living: Properties available in California. Call Soonyoung Park (707) 312-3635 or email soonyoungnapa@ gmail.com. Country properties and all real estate needs. CA BRE Lic #01421077

Pacific Union College 2020 Fall Quarter. PUC's

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Community & Marketplace Stallant Health, a rural health clinic in Weimar, Calif., is accepting applications for an optometrist to join the team. Interested individuals should contact Marva by email: marva@stallanthealth.com.

Maui vacation condo in Kihei. Relaxing and affordable.

Only a 3-minute walk to the beach! 1-bdrm w/king bed.

Clean, comfortable, wellmaintained. Sleeps 4. Fully furnished kitchen, washer/ dryer, and more! Free parking, Wi-Fi, and calls to U.S./Canada.

Friendly Kihei SDA church nearby. Visit us at: http:// www.vrbo.com/62799, email: mauivista1125@gmail.com, or call Mark 909-800-9841.

Wanted: single person to manage and care for estate home in Lake Las Vegas part time. Live-in with private room/ bath. Lovely situation for a widow. Call Myrna at 702-568-

7777 or 310-613-9549 or e-mail curtismyrna@verizon.net.

SDA Immigration Attorney.

We handle family and employment-based immigration cases for clients throughout the United States and around the globe. We also provide free immigration law seminars for churches and other groups. Please contact Jason Mustard at 831-249-9330 or Jason@surowitz.com.

AT REST Aguilar, Diana (Leighty) – b.

Oct. 5, 1949, Sacramento, Calif.; d. June 21, 2020, Layton, Utah.

Survivors: sons, Jim Hughes, Mike Hughes, Kevin Hughes; daughter, Kim Laatirs; 10 grandchildren; brother, Richard; sister, Kathy Thoms.

Blue, Mary – b. July 13, 1941,

Ava, Mo.; d. June 28, 2020, Tehachapi, Calif. Survivors: husband, Roger Sr.; son, Tim Glystorff; two grandchildren.

Connelly, Cyril Garth – b. Jan. 10, 1943, Maryport, England; d.

Aug. 2, 2020, San Bernardino, Calif. Survivors: wife, Ethyln “Lyn;” daughter, Cathrine Stone; son, Alan; three grandchildren.

He served Adventist Education over 40 years as teacher, principal, administrator, and professor.

De Romanett, Margaret – b.

Dec. 3, 1916, Ellensburg, Wash.; d. April 1, 2020, Loma Linda, Calif. Survivor: daughter, Linda.

In an effort to share the gospel message, she and her late husband established several talk-show radio stations, of which KFHL and KASK were the first.

Evans, Mary – b. Dec. 12, 1933, Queens, New York City, NY; d.

July 13, 2020, Fountain Valley, Calif. Survivors: sons, Ron, Bob; two grandchildren. Taught Sabbath School for Primary Class at Westminster church for many years.

Framsted, Shirley – b. Oct. 31, 1922, Amery, Wisc.; d.

March 29, 2020, Citrus Heights, Calif. Survivors: son, William; daughters, Mary Dunn, Marcia.

Hatton, Nancy – b. June 8, 1935, Los Angeles, Calif.; d.

July 3, 2020, Albany, Ore. Survivors: husband, Mervin; son, Dennis; daughters, Heather Metcalf, Christi Fitzpatrick; four grandchildren; six greatgrandchildren.

Haynal, John M. – b. Jan. 10, 1923, Philadelphia, Penn.; d.

May 22, 2020, Loma Linda, Calif.

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Community & Marketplace Survivors: wife, Ruby; son, Jonathan; daughter, Kristina Rhoads; three grandchildren.

Helms, Ray – b. Sept. 13, 1931, Lander, Wyo.; d. July 11, 2020, Riverside, Calif.

Survivors: wife, Maysie; son, Jeffrey; daughter, Pamela Stanford; four grandchildren.

Jarschke, Edith – b. Aug. 27, 1933, Bolzano, Italy; d.

June 1, 2020, Grand Terrace, Calif. Survivors: husband, Reinhard; daughters, Annette Siver, Lynelle; two grandchildren; one greatgrandchild.

Lancón, Carmen – b. June 2, 1937, Elgin, Texas; d.

June 26, 2020, Santa Maria, Calif. There are no known survivors.

Pelton, Viriginia Viola Carter – b. Feb. 14, 1928, St.

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Louis, Mo.; d. July 27, 2020, Loma Linda, Calif. Survivors: son, Ron; daughter, Cyndee; two grandchildren. She served as secretary at the General Conference headquarters for 20 years.

Peterson, Robert M. – b. Feb. 27, 1934, Pasadena, Calif.; d.

March 24, 2020, Pasadena, Calif. Survivors: wife, Sandra Huenergardt Peterson; daughter, Karen Fearson; son, Steven Peterson; four grandchildren; one greatgrandson; sister, Marian Mowery. Bob graduated from Pacific Union College in 1957. He practiced law and gave legal advisory services to Southern California Conference for 50 years. He was a member of the board of directors of White Memorial Hospital and served on the board of Adventist Health.

Prosser, Don – b. June 14, 1924, Mt. Vernon, Ohio; d. Jan. 26, 2020, Redding, Calif. Survivors: sons, Jon, David; daughters, Susan, Donna, Ann, Nancy, Polly; 12 grandchildren; 11 greatgrandchildren. He was a dentist.

Ricketts, Edwin A. – b. March 13, 1937, Los Angeles, Calif.; d. July 22, 2020, Victorville, Calif. Survivors: wife, Ricki; daughter, Evelyn “Dusty,” Kerri Joy Smith; son, Edwin David; two grandchildren; four greatgrandchildren; sisters, Sandra Forsett, Linda Bryant; halfbrother, Glen. He served as a pastor in four conferences for over 33 years. He was actively engaged in ministry until the very end.

Warner, Shirley Lee (Christie) – b. May 29, 1935, Glendale, Calif.; d. April 28,

2020, Chico, Calif. Survivors: husband, Leonard; son, W. Thomas; daughter, Theresa A.; five grandchildren.

Yoshida, Peter – b. April 23, 1934, Alviso, Calif.; d. April 15, 2020, Loma Linda, Calif.

Survivors: wife, June; son; Charles; four grandchildren; brother, Frank; sisters, Elly Yamamoto, Grace Kato.

Van Arsdell, Ronald Dorr – b. April 12, 1929, Lexington, Ky.; d. May 19, 2020, Mesa, Ariz. Survivors: wife; sons, Ken, Brent, and Lance; four grandchildren.

Graduated from EMC (now Andrews University) and Howard University School of Medicine. Interned at Loma Linda University Medical School Hospital. He served in Bangkok San and Hospital and in Thailand.

Community & Marketplace

SIMPLE GIFTS

IS BILL JOHNSSON AT HIS BEST!

R

ecorder readers can receive a free e-book of Dr. William G. Johnsson’s new book Simple Gifts by signing up to receive the inspiring news from around the Pacific Southwest, including All God’s People, the weekly videoblog with

S IMPLE G IFTS WILLIAM G. JOHNSSON

Connie Vandeman Jeffery, and Pacific Sunrise, the twice-weekly email of good news from our schools and churches.

Scan the QR code in this ad or go to adventistfaith.com/subscribe to

subscribe and for instructions on how to download Simple Gifts in pdf format.

This book is being serialized in this magazine and on our website and is also available on Amazon.com.

NEW FROM OAK & ACORN IS A PUBLISHING MINISTRY OF THE PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE

Sunset Calendar City

SEPT 5

SEPT 12

SEPT 19 SEPT 26

7:26 7:14 7:31 7:20 7:15 7:05 6:59 6:50 7:30 7:18 7:08 6:57 7:40 7:28 7:37 7:26 7:19 7:09 6:48 6:38 7:19 7:08 6:30 6:24 6:40 6:30 6:42 6:35 7:04 6:54 7:22 7:11 7:00 6:50 7:26 7:15 7:07 6:58 7:11 7:02 7:15 7:03 7:40 7:29 7:28 7:17 7:13 7:03 7:31 7:20 6:40 6:31 7:30 7:19 7:29 7:18 6:46 6:37 6:52 6:45 7:22 7:10 7:08 6:58 7:28 7:17 7:51 7:39 7:06 6:57 7:31 7:20 7:28 7:18 7:32 7:21 7:10 7:01 7:14 7:04 6:41 6:32

7:02 6:50 7:09 6:58 6:55 6:45 6:41 6:31 7:07 6:55 6:47 6:36 7:16 7:05 7:16 7:05 6:58 6:48 6:28 6:17 6:57 6:47 6:18 6:11 6:20 6:10 6:29 6:22 6:44 6:34 7:00 6:48 6:40 6:29 7:05 6:54 6:48 6:38 6:52 6:42 6:50 6:33 7:18 7:07 7:07 6:56 6:52 6:42 7:09 6:58 6:22 6:31 7:08 6:58 7:06 6:55 6:27 6:17 6:38 6:31 6:59 6:47 6:48 6:39 7:05 6:54 7:27 7:16 6:47 6:38 7:09 6:58 7:07 6:56 7:10 6:59 6:51 6:41 6:54 6:45 6:23 6:13

!

Alturas Angwin Bakersfield Calexico Chico Death Valley (Furnace Ck) Eureka Four Corners [E] Fresno Grand Canyon (South Rim) Half Dome Hilo Holbrook Honolulu Joshua Tree Lake Tahoe Las Vegas Lodi-Stockton Loma Linda Los Angeles McDermitt [N] Moab Monterey Bay Mt. Whitney Napa Nogales [S] Oakland Paradise, CA Phoenix Puuwai, Ni’ihau [W] Reno Riverside Sacramento Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Rosa Sunset Beach Thousand Oaks Tucson

September 2020

[N]=Northernmost [S]=Southernmost [E]=Easternmost [W]=Westernmost point in the Pacific Union

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9

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Community & Marketplace

$2,000 Scholarship Supports In-Union Adventist College Freshman

I

ncoming freshmen at Pacific Union College or La Sierra University now have access to a $2,000 scholarship provided by Pacific Union Conference for the 2020-2021 school year.

Freshmen applying for the scholarship 1) must be firsttime undergraduates, 2) must be enrolled full time, 3) must be baptized members of an Adventist church in the Union, or have a parent or guardian that is a baptized member of an Adventist church in the Union, or have attended a Union-operated secondary school for a minimum of one semester.

Applications and verifications for this scholarship are to be completed with Pacific Union College or La Sierra University and submitted as part of the student financial clearance process.

For more information about this scholarship, email the student financial services department of Pacific Union College at studentfinance@puc.edu or La Sierra University at sfs@lasierra.edu.

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PACIFIC UNION

P.0. Box 5005 Westlake Village CA 91359-5005

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P E R I O D I CA LS

Recorder

PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R